For Thine Hilarity
by Kaylawayla
Summary: Kayla and Sierra in the world of Dragon Age. What could go wrong? Pretty much everything, actually. Sierra falls in love with a possessed Warden, while Kayla seems utterly enamored with a broody ex-slave. Include the antics of Hawke and co., and you've got a rather interesting story. With terrible jokes. Rated M for all those M-rated references and ill doings. Slow start-up.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** All right. This is a teensy weensy prologue to a really long DA2 story. There are two OC's- myself and Sierra. If you don't like OC's, having the canon pretty much twisted all sorts of ways (which includes time line edits), and having people be very out of character, you won't like this story at all. However, if you like cursing, sexual references (possible full on smut), drinking, lots of Fenris loving, and violence, this is for you! Which means all of the above is included, and possibly in large amounts. As of uploading, I have yet to finish it, but I'm very much invested in it. You can expect numerous uploads. Now, I've had Sierra proof-read and go over _all_ of my chapters, so if there's a mistake or a typo or just a plain old 'oopsie' let's just blame her, shall we? I also make really terrible jokes. Okay. You've been warned.

At first, life was just a game.

No, really. It was literally a _game_- Dragon Age 2, to be exact. It was my favorite, and I played the hell out of it as often as I could, despite everyone else hating it in comparison to its predecessor. Well, everyone except Sierra, that is. I had introduced the game to her and she fell in love on the spot. Not that I thought it was better than Origins, as it certainly wasn't. I just adored it.

But that's not really the point.

The point is that at first I was your regular teenager- complete with awkwardness and drama- living her life in good ol' _reality_. And then in the blink of an eye, I'm on a rickety old boat traveling across the Waking Sea.

I'm not really sure what happened, to be honest. All I know is to _not_ trust creepy old ladies who remind you of _other_ creepy old ladies who happened to be in your favorite video game. Sierra and I had been outside, though I'm not sure where, which is already odd seeing as I hardly ever go outside in the first place. But anyway, we had been outside when an old woman approached us. I had half a mind to run away immediately when I saw her eyes, but then she started talking and I found myself enthralled.

Which brings us back to the boat.


	2. Chapter 2

'Ow' was all my mind could process. I felt as though I had just been hit in the head repeatedly by a really shiny spatula, though I cannot fathom to this day _why_ I thought of shiny spatulas instead of something more realistic. Like a baseball bat or something. Not spatulas.

But I digress.

Someone to my right voiced my previous sentiments, and after turning I was immediately struck with the realization that Sierra had _really_ pointy ears and pretty eyes. Then I put two and two together and realized that Sierra was an elf. How I knew this was Sierra I have no idea, but the elf next to me just seemed so _Sierra_ that it made perfect sense. As an afterthought I brought my hands to my own ears, but alas, they were still normal.

"Kayla?"

"Yeeeeees?" In hindsight, pretending that I didn't notice what had happened was _not_ one of my finer ideas. Sierra's brown eyes burned with fearful rage.

"How can you be so casual about this?! In case you haven't noticed, we're on a boat I have no memory of boarding surrounded by smelly people I don't know, _and_ you look ten times taller than me than usual!" I pondered this.

"Well, you are an elf now, so…" Again, not one of my finer ideas, seeing as her jaw dropped and her hands snapped up to her ears to confirm what I had said. She kept trying to speak with no success, and it was then that the gravity of the situation fell on me. I'm not gonna lie- I might have panicked.

"Oh my _God_! You-you're an elf and we're on a boat and the people here _are_ really stinky! That old lady… Sierra, that old woman was _Flemeth_." The last part was whispered frantically in her now-pointy ear. She gasped.

"Does… Does that mean we are where I think we are? Because if we are where I think we are, than we are in a place I never thought we could be, thus I must be going crazy and you are just partaking in my hallucinations, or we're really here and this is impossible."

I turned to one of my fellow passengers and quietly inquired where we were, who then proceeded to look at me strangely either because _I_ was looking at them strangely or because I was really creeping them out. All in all, I'd say it was a little of both.

"The Waking Sea, on course to Kirkwall. Surely you knew this _before_ you boarded, right?"

I'm pretty sure I died a little then. I didn't even answer the guy, just turned back to Sierra and nodded shakily. We slunk down to the floor, hanging our heads as our minds worked overtime to process the information. I was fairly certain that we had just gone insane, but before I could voice my opinion to Sierra a shadow loomed over us, drawing my attention elsewhere. I found myself looking at a very familiar face. Oh boy, Sierra was just going to _love_ this.

"You two seem pretty… confused. Is there anything I can do to help?" I nudged Sierra in the side so she would look up, since I was practically dying to see her face. She did, and I had to fight extremely hard with myself to not burst out laughing. At first it looked as though she had seen a ghost- she paled and her eyes were as wide as saucers. But then traditional fangirling kicked in, and I could practically _see_ her pupils turn into hearts. I nudged her again, harder this time, so she could snap back before the squealing began.

"I'm not really sure there really is anything that _can_ help, to be honest." I told him. He nodded solemnly and moved to sit beside us. He either didn't notice that Sierra was still seemingly in shock, or he was too polite to point it out.

"I'm Anders. Who are you?"

Yep. Officially in Thedas.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm Kayla," I cleared my throat, hoping it would bring Sierra out of her current state (read: staring at Anders as though he were the only person on the face of the earth and she was forced to repopulate with him), but continued as though it had been my intention all along.

"And this very strange and sadly socially awkward girl next to me is Sierra. I think she really likes your feathers, by the way." I smirked as Sierra broke out of her haze to slap me on the arm before blushing madly.

"I'm actually Sierra, best friend to this weird slut who would jump anyone she deemed hot enough to sleep with on first glance." I grinned, and thankfully Anders was not put off by us yet; he just looked amused before settling on confused.

"Hot? Why would she want them to be hot? Wouldn't that be… uncomfortable?" I giggled.

"Where we come from, hot usually means just that. But if applied to a person, it could mean sexy or gorgeous or whatever. You know… 'That girl is smoking hot!'" He seemed to accept my explanation, and settled back into his amused expression as Sierra slapped me yet again.

"Hey! That's my arm, and I do actually happen to _need_ that arm. You know, for picking up things? Writing? Hugging?"

"You can write?" Anders asked, sounding surprised. I looked back over at him, brow furrowed. Was illiteracy _so_ common surprise was warranted? I shuddered at the thought, but nodded to him. He looked like he wanted to ask more, but Sierra cleared her throat.

"Whatever… So, Anders, uh…" He looked at her expectantly, which seemed to melt her brain even more. I subtly pinched her.

"What brings you to Kirkwall?" She asked smoothly, but not before shooting me a glare. I wondered why she was asking that, since we already knew, but as I thought on the reason why he was going there, I realized that I no longer did.

My panic steadily increased as I tried to remember things that I was so certain I knew, but had completely forgotten. It seemed that all my knowledge of this world ended at Anders, and in the back of my mind I wondered if Flemeth planned it this way so we couldn't mess things up intentionally.

Things I knew for certain (and even they were fading): We weren't from this world. We somehow already knew Anders before meeting him. And we already knew the world we were in- but nothing of the things in it; just waiting for us to discover.

And I was very afraid of what those things were.


	4. Chapter 4

I observed Sierra as her and Anders chatted quietly, and I could tell she was growing confused as well. It seemed all our knowledge was fading faster and faster until I forgot that none of this should be real. And I was perfectly fine with it. My attention was brought back to Sierra as I noticed her trying to stifle a yawn, and I realized my own eyes were droopy as I fought back a yawn as well. Anders smiled softly at us.

"I'll let you guys sleep. I didn't even notice everyone else had already gone to bed."

"Hah! That was… Sierra's really… Ugh. 'Night." I failed pitifully at teasing them for being so enraptured in their conversation that they hadn't noticed anything around them, sadly. Sierra was curled up beside me with her head resting on my leg, already fast asleep. I tried poking her nose a few times to see if she'd move, but I was quickly too tired to even do that, so I just settled back and let the darkness embrace me.

I was rudely awakened the next morning by someone grasping me by the shoulders and shaking me like a rag doll. I squeaked indignantly and cracked my eyes open to glare at the offender- and who else could it be other than Sierra? She smiled evilly at me as I frowned, shaking me yet again until I started slapping at her arms half-heartedly.

"Wake up, Kay! Anders told me that while we were asleep Kirkwall's chains were on the horizon, whatever that means, and to get up because we're going to be docking soon!" I stood up, grumbling at her as we made our way to Anders. I looked at what she was wearing, and nearly sputtered in surprise.

Sierra… was wearing leather? The idea seemed so strange to me, though I couldn't place why. Though I had to admit, leather looked pretty good on her. Her jerkin was laid over a white shirt that was almost too big for her elven figure, and below that were loose fitting cotton pants stuffed into black boots, and her long blonde hair flowed down her back.

I looked to my own outfit; it was more like a dress in comparison to hers, though with hardly anything to it. It had feathered pauldrons similar to Anders', but only covering the bare minimum of my shoulders and darker in shade, and strangely going well with my own tangle of blonde hair. The rest of it was a bold red fabric that curved down my chest and stopped at my hips, then curving inwards so that my thighs were bare but all the important bits were covered. A loose fitting belt settled over my hips, and the outfit ended with high stockings and flats. I found myself strangely disappointed- I had really wanted Sierra's outfit, but this would just have to do.

Anders smiled at us in greeting as we finally made our way over to him before leading us to the deck. Most of the other passengers were already there, waiting for the ship to dock at Kirkwall's harbor. Looking up, I spotted what Anders had meant by Kirkwall's Chains. On the jutting cliffs overhead were gigantic statues of slaves, their heads in their hands as though they were weeping. I sighed- they could not mean that Kirkwall was a wondrous place full of happiness. I turned to Anders, hoping to make small-talk.

"You seemed surprised I could write," I began, and he shifted to look at me.

"Yeah, it's not that common among a lot of Fereldans, even less so with women. Don't get me wrong, though!" He added hastily, looking embarrassed. "It's a great thing. It's just so rare. Not even the Hero of Ferelden was literate until after the Blight, when she would have to learn to understand letters from other people." I was surprised.

"I learned in school, like Sierra did. She always liked school way better, though. I left as soon as I could, but that had nothing to do with me not wanting to learn. And it's not like I'd be better off if I stayed, anyway. I'd probably be dead if I had."

"The school you went to was _that_ dangerous?"

"No." I said, and he looked a bit taken aback before settling on sad and looking at me with pity. I turned back to watch the waves crash against the rocky cliffs, not wanting to talk any longer.

After what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, we finally set foot off the ship and crossed over to one of the guards that looked to be in control of letting us in. He looked us over, and his eyes lingered on Sierra and I far too long than decency permitted. Anders stood protectively in front of us, and I nearly giggled at the look on Sierra's face as she shuffled behind him.

"How much?" Anders asked, and the guard shrugged.

"Nothing, if I can get my hands on that one, over there." He said, leering at me. Sierra and Anders froze in horror while the guard pinned me with his gaze. Steeling myself mentally, I placed my hand on Anders shoulder reassuringly before stepping forward and smiling seductively.

"Your hands, huh?" I purred, stepping closer and walking my fingers up his armored chest. Anders choked behind me while Sierra squeaked. The guard put his hands on my hips and grinned lecherously down at me. Turning to the others behind me, I looked into Sierra's eyes and tried to help her understand what I was doing. Her eyes lit briefly before resuming their horrified gaze.

"Don't worry you two; this will only be a minute!" The guard then led me to an abandoned alcove where no one could see us, and my heart sped up in fear. He had removed his gauntlets by the time I had finished looking around, and suddenly his bare hands were sliding up and down my sides. I smiled at him while fighting a shudder.

I placed my hands on his armored hips, sliding them around sensually while feeling for his sword. Raising my head up to his I captured his lips with mine to distract him, all the while fighting the urge to gag. Finally my hands found purchase on the hilt of his sword, and as he moved his hands upwards to grab at my chest I whipped it out, pivoting away for him as I brought the sword to his neck, just an inch from his skin. He immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"Now listen here, and listen well. You are going to let me and my friends pass, free of charge. And if I ever, and I mean _ever_, hear you forcing someone to have sex with you just so they can enter the city, you will soon find that you can't have sex anymore, as you'll lack the proper… _parts_. We clear?" He gulped before nodding, and I backed away, but didn't lower my newly acquired sword.

I led him back to the captain where he quickly told him that I was to be let in with my friends free of charge immediately. He also yelped, but that was mostly because the sword tapped him in the back. The captain nodded, and I thanked them both before making my way back to Sierra and Anders.

"Let's go! Just like he said, we're getting in free." I smiled at them. Sierra smiled hesitantly back, but Anders still looked horrified.

"You… You didn't just… _prostitute_ yourself, did you?" I crinkled my nose in disgust.

"Ew, no! I simply let him believe I was, but then I took his sword and… _persuaded_ him to let us in, free of charge."

"Thank the Maker. Just… Never do that again without telling me first, please. I nearly had a heart attack."

I just laughed and led them away.


	5. Chapter 5

After the whole getting-into-the-city fiasco, Anders had us come with him. He had already made living arrangements with a woman named Lirene, apparently, and he assured us it was no trouble to let us tag along, especially after what I had done to get him into the city. I had a suspicion that he just didn't want to let us out of his sight for fear of what we might get into, Sierra especially. Or rather what _I_ might get into, and drag Sierra along with it.

Sierra was ecstatic. My excitement had dimmed considerably when I realized what conditions we would be living in-the worst conditions in all of Kirkwall, really. Ick. Darktown. But Sierra was still bouncing off the walls even after I pointed out to her that she would hardly, if ever, get a hot shower.

As for Anders… Well, he had closed down considerably after arriving in Kirkwall. He devoted his time to healing the others, pushing himself to exhaustion often. Sierra and I tried our best to help with poultices and herbs, but nothing we could do could beat magical healing. The only time he would take a break was when Sierra physically forced him to; she even pushed him down onto a chair once and _sat on his lap_ to keep him from getting up! Not that he would, he was smitten with her and even though he was blushing madly at the time, I knew he enjoyed it.

After a month of living there, I had taken it upon myself to actually get to _know_ Anders beyond what snippets he offered to us of his past. I didn't really care about that, anyway- I wanted to know who he was more than I wanted to know the things he did, though I suppose they affected each other. He tried dodging it, of course, but I can be very stubborn if need be, which was always a plus, in my book.

Sierra and I sat on one of the cots across from him, eagerly awaiting whatever he was comfortable sharing. He smiled nervously, pushing a few loose strands of hair back from his face. I quickly realized he didn't know where to start. I can't say I knew, either, but I tried to help. And by help, I mean be silly. Raising my hand, I grinned.

"Oh, Ser Anders!" I called, giggling at how high I was pitching my voice to sound like a young child. "Please, introduce yourself! Like, what's your full name? Favorite color? Song?" He rolled his eyes while Sierra elbowed me, but went along with it.

"Ah, just Anders. I don't really know my real name, or if I did, I guess I just forgot. As for my favorite color, I'd say blue or green. Now, my favorite song would be Nug Pancakes_._ I learned it from one of my friends from Orzammar- it's a common nursery rhyme there. Rather silly." Sierra and I giggled at that.

We spent a couple of more hours just learning about each other. Sierra told him how much she loved to dance, and would miss being able to do it so often. I mentioned how much I adored History, despite knowing hardly any history beyond the fifth Blight, which was something I intended to fix soon. In turn, he told us of all of his Grey Warden friends- including the Hero of Ferelden.

Then that fateful day came when the course of our lives twisted even more. It had started out normally enough; Sierra and I trying to wake up early just to find Anders already awake and working. She asked him if he had even slept, but he had just smiled softly at her and that stopped her from nagging on him immediately. I had sighed, shaking my head as Anders pounced to the next patient- a young boy who was sickly pale.

I felt the magic build up in Anders before I even saw it, which wasn't a normal occurrence. It made me feel all tingly inside, so I looked at Sierra to see if she felt the same thing, but her gaze was riveted to Anders as she dashed over to steady him as he stumbled. I sighed again. Damn fool mages…

I felt the magic build up again as Anders swerved towards the door, staff in hand. A rag-tag group of four had come in, none of them seemingly injured but armed to the teeth. Frantically searching for my dagger even though I knew that if they wanted to kill us we wouldn't last a chance, the man leading the group held up his hands in a gesture of peace, and I relaxed fractionally as I let my gaze wander over the rest of the group.

There was a small elven woman to his side with Dalish tattoos, smiling softly. To his other side was a dwarf that was currently talking to Anders. My gaze fell upon the most intimidating one, and stayed there.

Maker, he was beautiful.

His frost white hair hung shaggily in his eyes, partly covering his glare as he seemed to stare down everything in his path. His ears were long and slender, and his skin was like caramel. My gaze traveled down his lithe body that was covered in metal and spikes aside from his arms and neck that were decorated by glowing white tattoos. I reluctantly brought my eyes back to his face just as he lifted his head, and I found my breath taken away by his eyes.

Maker's breath, those eyes. They were the most brilliant shade of green, and I found myself lost in their depths as his gaze snapped to mine. I smiled widely at him before taking my place beside Sierra. I felt slightly guilty for not listening to the conversation- it was clearly important. I shifted closer to Sierra, our arms brushing, and out of habit I began to nudge her with my elbow. She responded in kind, and I stifled a giggle as I realized she wasn't even paying attention to me or our elbow war- we had done this so often it was like second nature to her.

I continued the game further, using more force as she did. Soon enough her attention was back on me as we shoved each other and giggled like school girls. She gave one last push, sending me sprawling into a nearby cot, and we erupted in giggles, company seemingly forgotten.

"Ladies?"

We snapped to attention, stifling our giggles and smiling sheepishly at the five sets of eyes now on us. Anders was smiling indulgently as he always did when we were like this, the elven girl was giggling too, and the dwarf looked amused. Their leader was chuckling, while the elf remained unreadable.

"Forgive me, Hawke, I forgot to introduce them while they were too busy playing. That's Sierra and Kayla, my lovely assistants."

"I'm Kayla, and that abuser-of-best-friends is Sierra." I started. As to further prove my point, Sierra slapped my arm as I laughed.

"I'm Sierra, and this freak of nature is Kayla." We grinned as the others introduced themselves as well. The leader, a man with dark hair and an extremely impressive beard, was Hawke. The Dalish girl was Merrill, the dwarf was Varric, and the other elf was Fenris. Fenris didn't introduce himself though, Varric did it for him, and he pointed out that he usually called him Broody.

I giggled at that.

Anders soon made plans for them to meet at the Chantry once it was dark, though I had no idea what that was all about. Sierra and I set about making extra poultices in case someone came in while Anders was away, and that was seemingly that. Anders was much happier after the meeting, so I wrote it off as something I didn't need to know about but should be happy about.

Oh, how I wished I was right.


	6. Chapter 6

Anders left that night, looking very nervous but also very giddy. He even gave Sierra a swirling hug as he left, leaving her flustered and me giggling. We took the lanterns in and locked the door after an hour or two, as it was not wise to have an open invitation to the prowling gangs of Darktown at night. Besides, if anyone really needed us they could just bang on the door.

Sierra settled in a cot in our shared room at the back of the clinic while I tried my hand at making Anders some more lyrium potions. We didn't have much lyrium on hand, but thanks to Tomwise it was better than nothing. Another hour passed and I started to pace- I had made all the potions I could, but Anders was out far later than I thought he would be, and I was worried. I nearly scolded myself for acting like a mother hen, and kept telling myself that Anders would be fine. Right?

Because if he wasn't fine I would be devastated, and that wouldn't even begin to compare to whatever Sierra would feel. The poor refugees and denizens of Darktown would die without someone to heal them, too. As I started to come up with even more terrible scenarios, the door to the clinic was unlocking and I started to prepare a lecture about staying out late and making me worry myself to death, Anders crept in, head in his hands and looking down right miserable. My lecture fled from my mind as he turned to face Hawke. The group was a bit different- Varric and Merrill were still there, but there was another human with a greatsword on his back with them, and Fenris was nowhere in sight. I tried not to feel disappointed, instead focusing on my concern for Anders.

"That wasn't normal magic you just did, was it?" I froze.

Oh, _shit_.

Anders started to explain his situation with Justice, and neither party seemed to notice me edging closer, dagger in hand, prepared to strike at a moment's notice. The only one who seemed particularly agitated was the man I didn't know; the others just looked sad. Hawke was trying to comfort Anders, but I could see greatsword guy sneering at his back.

Then he insulted Anders and I just about lost it. Throwing my dagger so it landed on the wooden post just a few inches from his head, I waited for all eyes to turn to me. I'm pretty sure I growled, too.

"Apologize. _Now_." Anders tried to protest that it was fine, but I held up a hand and gestured for silence.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Greatsword guy scoffed.

"And why should I? He's the abomination here, not me." I came closer to him, grabbing him by the collar of his muscle-shirt-thing, forcing him down to my eye-level so I could glare more efficiently.

"Really? Because the only _abomination_ I see here is you. Do you know what this man does all day? He helps people. He heals their wounds, delivers their babies, and saves their _lives_, often working himself to the point of collapse, without thought for coin. He hardly eats to make sure Sierra and I get enough, even though I know he needs more than we do. He agreed to give you his maps that could help make you for life, in exchange for _one_ favor. And if you still think he's an abomination for trying to save his friend's life by merging with him, a spirit of Justice, _not_ a demon, then make sure to never be in my line of sight again, because so help me boy, I will _end you_. Are we _clear_?" I released my hold on his shirt and huffed.

The room was so silent after my tirade that I'm sure they could hear my heart beating furiously in my chest as they all stared at me in awe. Anders looked so grateful and touched that I nearly smiled, but held out long enough to wait for greatsword guy's reply. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I, uh… I'm sorry, Anders. I guess I didn't realize… Yeah." I smiled then, and Anders nodded. I darted over to him, giving him a brief hug. Anders and I turned as we heard the door behind us creak open, revealing Sierra blinking sleepily.

"Hey, what's going on out here?" She demanded, yawning. I frowned as I tried to think of something- if she knew what had actually happened, they would hear her screaming all the way from Hightown.

"Oh, nothing! Just... go back to bed! Yep. I'll be in there shortly. Anders has some business with Hawke is all, and was asking me for my opinion since I was still awake." Her gaze swept over us all before nodding and returning to the room, shutting the door softly behind her. I breathed a massive sigh of relief, which I'm sure Anders echoed.

"Nice save." Commented Varric, I just shook my head and smiled at him. I was fairly certain it only worked because she was so tired- Sierra knew too well to believe any lie when she was lucid. I could only hope she wouldn't remember in the morning. I turned to the greatsword guy as he approached me.

"I really am sorry. Uh… I'm Carver, by the way. You're Kayla?" I smiled and nodded, and he looked relieved. I was a very forgiving person… Sometimes.

"Great, uh… I'll see you around?"

"Sure, Carver. I'll see you around." He turned to go back to the others who were saying their goodbyes, and I took note that Anders was glancing frequently at the door Sierra had disappeared behind, wondering how much she had heard and what she would remember. He then looked back at me and blushed.

"Thank you, Kayla. Really. And I'm pretty sure Justice is thankful too. I think Carver was going to wet his pants, though. Where did you learn to rant like that?"

"Ah, well, people have always said I enjoyed arguing too much for my own good." Of course, I couldn't really remember _who_ had exactly said that, but it didn't much matter at that point. It was true. Anders just laughed.

"I can see that. Just keep away from Templars or anyone in the Chantry, all right? Don't want you to get arrested for heresy." I pouted. Really, he was no fun! I had been cooking up a plan for a while to drive the Grand Cleric just a little bit crazy. He must have caught on during the numerous times I thought aloud, when I figured everyone was too busy to notice.

"Oh, all right. Party pooper."


	7. Chapter 7

I set out early the next day with Sierra- Anders mentioned something about needing more Elfroot, and being the dutiful assistants that we are, we volunteered to go scour the trenches of Kirkwall, hoping to discover a good amount.

It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with the fact about the rumors of a new hat shop opening. Nope. No sir-ee!

"How do you think this one looks?" Sierra asked, placing a flamboyant brimmed hat on top of her head. I giggled and went to join her by the mirror, observing her as she posed and twirled the hat about. It was a deep blue, with feathers protruding from all sides. Not the best hat in the store by far.

"I liked that business-y hat better. The one with the straight lines? It shows off your ears better. Your hair looks good with that one, too." She put her hand to her chin, thinking it over as I went to find said hat. Before I could retrieve it, however, someone else plucked it up, placing it upon their chocolate hair and blue bandana.

I looked the woman over, smiling politely. She was _busty_. Never in a million years could I manage such a feat, and her outfit accentuated her curves very nicely, which I was sure she knew, judging by the smirk on her lips. Right below them was a gold piercing, matching her huge necklace and earrings, nearly on the tacky side, but _just_ right.

Needless to say, I thought she was fabulous.

"I'm not sure that one goes with your outfit so well," I began, hoping I wasn't offending her. "Actually, the one my friend has on would match your sash a lot better. Same blue. Though, I think a hat a bit more pirate-like would suit you better." I grinned as she pursed her lips, glancing over at Sierra.

Saying nothing, she went over to Sierra, exchanging their hats. I giggled at the look of surprise on Sierra's face, but the woman next to her stared steadily at the mirror before coming to a decision. She turned back to me, smiling suggestively. I didn't think too much on it- this didn't look like the type of gal to share a sincere smile to someone she just met.

"You know what, kitten, I think you're right! And if I turn up the sides a little, all the better. Maybe add a gold lining?"

"Perhaps a gold feather or two?" Sierra suggested, and the woman finally spared her a glance.

"You two are geniuses. Why haven't I found you before?"

"Well, we rarely leave Darktown. Not that we like it there, mind you, but we don't have much cause to leave. We're actually supposed to be looking for ingredients, but... How could we resist?"

"Exactly! Kittens, we simply _must_ shop til we drop. I'm Isabela. Previously Captain Isabela, but without my ship the title rings a bit hollow." That would explain my intuition about a pirate hat.

"I'm Sierra, and this is Kayla. Do you know any other good shops? I could use new shoes." Isabela latched onto our arms, guiding us out of the shop after we deposited our hats on the floor. We ran all over Lowtown, even stopping at Vincento's to look at his jewelry. Isabela observed some bracelets, while Sierra and I looked at some rings. I was about to point out a particularly pretty one to her when a voice rang out behind us.

"Ladies, I didn't expect to see you all here." We turned, exclaiming "Varric!" at the same time, before giggling like mad. Varric merely smiled at us, amused, when Hawke came up behind him, just as surprised.

"I didn't know you three knew each other."

"We just met today, actually. Isabela decided we needed to window shop extensively, and Sierra and I agreed wholeheartedly. Why didn't you tell us about each other? You _had_ to know we would have gotten along!"

"I don't know you two as well as I know Isabela, sorry." said Hawke, sounding sheepish. We just rolled our eyes, chatting with them a bit before Hawke actually said what he wanted from us.

"Ah, Isabela..." She smirked at him, expectant. We heard him gulp. "I was wondering if you would come with us to the Coast today? We found that slaver den- some stealth might be needed if we want to get the kid out alive." Isabela nodded, hugging us goodbye, and they went on their merry way. I sighed contently, as Sierra and I began to walk back to Darktown. I clutched the bag of Elfroot we collected- we weren't _so_ irresponsible to go shopping before finding some.

"Good day, huh?" I asked Sierra as we walked, arm-in-arm. We were approaching the steps. She shrugged, smiling softly.

"Yeah, I just hope Anders isn't mad at us. Or worse- worrying. He probably thought we'd be back sooner. The Elfroot didn't take us that long to find."

"True. Oh well, he can't stay mad at us long. Well, at least he can't stay mad at _you_ for long. He may be more open to yelling at me. I'm not the one he's madly in love with, you know." Sierra blushed, looking ready to say something, when an imposing figure loomed over us. We took a step back, but someone was behind us as well. Looking to my right, a man came up beside me, nearly boxing us in completely. The only way out was on Sierra's side. We were clutching each other's hands hard enough to draw blood, fear coursing through our veins. I turned my head to her ear, whispering as quietly as possible.

"Get Anders. _Now_. Your bow won't work in close quarters." She looked at me, eyes wide, but nodded as tears choked her. "Love you." I turned back to the first man in front of us, smiling shakily.

"Something I can do for you, gentlemen?" His eyes on my face, I nudged Sierra out of the box before drawing my dagger, hoping to keep their attention so she could get far enough away that Anders could hear her if she screamed. I lunged at the man, slicing at his chest. I made it through his tunic, but it barely cut the skin before my dagger was knocked out of my hand and the man behind me restrained my arms. I kicked frantically, hearing Sierra screaming at the top of her lungs, her voice getting farther away.

"Don't even think about escaping, slut. We may have lost the other one, but elves aren't our type anyway, are they, boys? Not like anyone would want to help a knife-ear, anyway." The other men muttered their agreement. I glared at them, trying to think of anything to stall them until Anders got here. The man in front of me raised his hand to slap me, and I turned my head away, bracing myself for a blow that never came.

Instead, there was a choking sound, and I looked on in amazement as he was slowly frozen, bit by bit, in place; a hard layer of ice covering him. The man behind me threw me on the ground, and I looked around for any mages I knew, seeing none. I didn't spend too much time thinking on it, though, getting on my feet quickly and racing away.

I heard even more shouting from behind me- my attackers must have been joined by the rest of their group. I kept running forward, seeing Anders racing toward me, staff in hand. Sierra was behind him, an arrow ready to fire from her bow. She was obviously relieved to see me, before her face twisted in horror as I felt something lodge in my side.

I fell to my knees, hands clutching at my side, feeling the arrow lodged there as a venomous feeling raced in my blood. Poison, then. _Great. _A heavy feeling came over me, and I collapsed on the ground, unable to move. Not that I wanted to, anyway, getting shot by a poisonous arrow hurt like a bitch.

I heard echoes of screams all around me, some shouts of my name, others battle cries. As much as I wanted to stay awake, waves of darkness crashed over me and my eyes refused to stay open. My mind was foggy, but the last thought I remember having was that I hoped Sierra and Anders got on all right without me.


	8. Chapter 8

I was jostled awake as I felt the ground fall away from me- or perhaps I was being raised from it? If so, I expected to be placed in a nice cushiony bed before my untimely demise. Seeing as whoever was carrying me _didn't_ place me upon said bed, I struggled to crack one eye open and managed to see a sliver of what was in front of me.

I saw a flash of white before my eyes were fully closed once again, so instead I tried speaking. I tried to say 'is there a bed in my future?' but I'm pretty sure it came out more like 'izklbedfut'. I heard a relieved chuckle as I felt it vibrate through me, and somewhere in my mind I realized that whoever had just chuckled was also carrying me.

"Kayla?" It was the same person, but they were still _walking_ and I was starting to feel queasy. I made a sickly sound, and this time it came out as I intended. Then I heard more voices, all of them familiar, though I couldn't place them. I was laid down on something, but to my great disappointment, it was not plush and cushiony. At least it was a step up from the ground.

Pain echoed through me and I screamed. Suddenly I was being restricted as the pain came again and again, but this time I couldn't double over in pain and my screams became even louder and shriller until _finally_, it was over, and I could rest again.

I slowly became aware of sounds surrounding me- the shuffling of papers, people breathing, someone crying. I couldn't open my eyes yet, but I could wiggle around, so I tried that until I ended up falling off the edge of my cot, being saved an inch from the ground by armored hands and placed back upon my safety zone. I didn't try to move again, but I did find I could speak.

"You know, there should be a railing of some sort on the sides of these things. So, oh maybe, I don't fall off again. That'd be really nice." I was rewarded with a soft chuckle that made my toes curl, but was soon interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming closer.

"Kay?" I recognized the voice this time- Sierra.

"Ugh. Yeah? Sorry. I'm kind of freaking out right now. I can't open my eyes. Maker's teeth, does my body _ache_." I heard her call for Anders, and I breathed a sigh of relief as a wave of healing magic flew through me. I managed to finally open my eyes, seeing Anders' worried face. I smiled softly at him.

"Hey, buddy. What's shaking?"

"Shaking?"

"Yeah. Like, what the hell happened?" He laughed a bit, and the same chuckle from earlier came from my other side. I turned to look, surprised to see Fenris sitting on the cot next to mine. Before I could say anything to him, however, my attention was drawn back to Anders as he began speaking.

"Well, a couple of days ago I sent you and Sierra out to get Elfroot. Which you did, thanks, but you took forever getting back, so it was dark when you entered the area. From what Sierra told me, a few coterie members or another gang came up and boxed you guys in. Somehow you distracted them long enough for her to come get me. I had been healing Fenris," said elf growled a little, but Anders paid him no mind, "and we raced out to find you barreling towards us. I thought you were good until there was an arrow in your side, and you fell. We managed to dispatch them and I brought you back here to heal you. I'll tell you, it wasn't easy. It was a very strong poison that brought you down- the arrow wound wasn't that bad."

I remained silent, letting the memories flood back. One in particular stuck in my mind. I wasn't entirely sure why it stood out to me, but I figured since it did, I might as well ask. I was afraid of the answer, though.

"You didn't mention freezing the guy so I could escape." His brow furrowed, confused, before he shook his head.

"You had already escaped by the time I was close enough to freeze anyone. What are you talking about? Do you think an apostate was there?" I shook my head. Residents in Darktown _don't_ come to the aid of a complete stranger. They merely filter out of the area, and were thankful it wasn't them. But, that meant... In horror, I remembered the feeling that had sprung up in me when the man tried to strike me. It was similar to whatever I felt when Anders started a large healing spell.

It started up again, no matter how much I didn't want it to. Anders took a step back, aghast, as he no doubt felt the power surge within me. I closed down on it as soon as I could, shutting my eyes and putting my head in my hands as I sat up. I could feel Fenris' eyes staring holes in me. Either he hadn't figured it out yet and was trying to, or he had and thought I was a monster, like a lot of people did with mages.

I did what any sensible person would do when they found out they were a mage. I cried like a baby. Anders sat down beside me, patting me on the back awkwardly, no doubt at a loss of what to do. In between sobs, I managed to choke out something about this being terrible.

"Why?" Anders asked, and I sniffled, realizing I had probably hurt his feelings. I shook myself of my sobs quickly so he would understand.

"I'm not good at controlling my emotions. What if I accidentally led the Templars here and they captured you? What if I hurt someone? Oh, Maker, I could never live with myself. _That's_ why this is terrible."

Before he could respond, Fenris stood up quickly, leaving the clinic and slamming the door behind him. I looked at the door for a second before launching back into my sobs. I couldn't really blame him for hating me- when you're fed lies about mages from the Chantry all your life, it's hard to see past them. Don't get me wrong, mages _can_ be dangerous. Not just because we can wield magic, but because of the mage's morals. We weren't instantly evil. Anybody could be a bad person, and hurt others- not just mages.

Nevermind that, though. I wondered how many people would still talk to me once they knew. I know Sierra and Anders still would and I guess that's all that really matters. I didn't know a lot of people who didn't already know mages before me, so my fears weren't really rational. But still. I had wanted to be friends with Fenris.

I guess that was a lost cause now, though.


	9. Chapter 9

Once I had stopped sobbing, Anders took me to the back room to explain things a bit more to me, leaving Sierra in charge. He told me that, until he or Hawke could teach me enough to be sure I wouldn't randomly go off and freeze someone or other, or go make a deal with a demon (I scoffed at that. Did he think I was an idiot?), I wasn't allowed to leave the clinic without one of them. Merrill, of course, was not allowed to be near me without supervision, for obvious reasons. I suspected she would try and convince me join her in restoring the Eluvian in her home with blood magic. Yeah, not gonna happen. She was sweet, though, and made me feel better when she was allowed to visit.

Hawke took me out to the Wounded Coast whenever he was free- which was a couple of times a week, in between adventures to raise enough money for his expedition. Anders had tagged along at first, helping Hawke teach me, but we managed to convince him that the denizens of Darktown needed him more than we did, so he would stay there while we went out. I hate to say it, but Hawke and I were relieved. Anders was a _terrible_ backseat-mage, always telling me what to do if I was doing something in a way that worked, but wasn't what _he_ did. He even tried to correct Hawke, who had been a fantastic mage before he was even ten.

Once he was away, lessons went much smoother and I felt actually competent. When we ran out of mana, we would sometimes sit in the sand and watch the sunset, talking all the while. We got to be fast friends and I was given the privilege to call him Garrett, instead of just Hawke. On one of these long talks, Fenris came up. I'm not entirely certain which of us brought him up, but I'm going to assume it was Garrett.

"Do you think he hates me?" I asked him, twirling a strand of hair around my finger nervously. He looked at me, surprised. I suppose he wasn't informed to how he reacted when I discovered I was a mage, so I filled him in.

"Hmm. I don't think so. I had a talk with him about Merrill, once. She had been crying because she thought he hated her, too. He told me that he didn't hate _her_ specifically; it was more so that he thought she was incredibly stupid and naïve, and that he didn't trust magic in general. I couldn't disagree, if I were him, I wouldn't trust magic either, I don't think. And, well, she is stupid and naïve."

I giggled at that. "What do you mean, 'if you were him'? He had a bad past with mages?" Garrett scoffed.

"That's putting it lightly. I figured you knew already, most everyone does. He used to be a slave to a Magister of Tevinter." I gasped and he nodded angrily. "The markings on his arms? Those aren't regular tattoos. They're made of pure lyrium. He told me that the ritual giving him them was so agonizing it wiped him of all memories of his life he had prior- he doesn't remember having a family or a life. All he knows is his life as a slave." I paled and cried out in horror.

"Holy Maker... That's... I don't even have words. I understand his viewpoint now. Should I stay away from him? Not that I've seen him at all since finding out I was a mage, but once I'm deemed safe, I would hate to make him uncomfortable."

"I don't think so. He had no problem with you before, he even carried you to the clinic so Anders could heal you. I just wouldn't flaunt it in his face. Not that I think you would, I mean, you don't even dress like a mage at all." That was true- I usually just wore a simple tunic and pants, nothing like I wore when I had first arrived in Kirkwall. I didn't want to attract attention to the healer in Darktown after all. Not that Anders seemed to care, what with his feathered pauldrons.

"But don't take it too personally when he growls at you. I'm pretty sure he likes to growl at anyone. Sometimes it's fun intimidating people." I rolled my eyes and we moved onto happier topics. Of course, my mind would drift back to Fenris often, but I was getting better at staying focused so it didn't bother me. After talking for a bit longer, he dropped me back off at the clinic.

As I went in, I noticed Anders and Sierra sitting together in a corner, heads close as Anders looked to be telling a funny story. No one was in the clinic besides us, and since they didn't realize I was there, I stood and watched them for a moment. My best friend in the whole universe was laughing merrily with a faint blush on her cheeks, and Anders was grinning from ear to ear while gesturing with his hands. I didn't really understand the context of the story, though, so I crept past them and into the back room, falling onto my own cot, and fell asleep to the sound of their joyous laughter.


	10. Chapter 10

After a few more months of training, in which Garrett said I soaked up the information like a sponge once Anders was gone (not to his face though), I was deemed capable enough to venture on my own.

"_Freedom!_" I cried, racing out of Darktown with him hot on my heels. Everybody that I passed gave me very strange looks, but I ignored them and just continued to run while waving my hands haphazardly in the air. As we reached Lowtown Garrett gave up on the idea of trying to stop me, instead adopting the stance of 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' and thus started waving his arms and running around the bazaar with me too.

After a while we came to his Uncle's doorstep, where he was currently residing. We sat on the stoop laughing over our excursion- apparently guards don't take kindly to you screaming bloody murder while your friend tackles you in the street and starts to tickle you mercilessly. Aveline was none too happy when she happened to run into the guard taking us to the Keep, though she did manage to weasel us out after giving us a very stern and very _long_ lecture. Although it was kind of funny; she was so frustrated her cheeks started to match her bright red hair.

"Darling, I- oh, hello there. Who are you?" Garrett and I both looked up as an elderly woman exited the shack, staring at me with unbridled curiosity. He just simply shrugged.

"Oh, her? Just Kayla, Mother." Mama Hawke gasped.

"Garrett! Don't speak to a lady that way! I thought I raised you better than that." I snickered and poked him in the arm.

"Yeah, _Gary_. Don't speak to me that way!" I fiercely whispered, giggling all the while. He turned red while his mother was none the wiser, obviously waiting for her son to apologize.

"Ah, yes, mother… This is my friend, Kayla. Kayla, this is my mother, Leandra Hawke. We were visiting today, that's all." Leandra beamed at me.

"So very nice to meet you, Kayla! Please, do come in! Gamlen's out, so it's only Carver and I here. Your friend Aveline took your mabari to the barracks earlier today, to help train, so he's not here either." I perked up at that.

"Carver's here? Woo!" With that I rushed into the house, my eyes zeroing on Carver, who had his back turned to me, seemingly reading a letter with a blush creeping on his cheeks. I smiled and ran at him before pouncing and knocking us both to the floor.

"Hel-_lo_, Carver! So very nice to see you! Ooo, what's this letter here? Who's Peaches? Oh my! What did you do behind that barn, Carver? Naughty, naughty!" By this time I was cackling evilly like usual and Carver had turned a rather interesting shade of pink before snatching the letter out of my hands and righting himself. Stuffing the letter into his pocket where I couldn't get it, he pulled me to my feet.

"What are you doing?"

"Visiting, of course! You have _no_ idea how boring that clinic gets when you're only allowed to leave for the dreary Wounded Coast, like, twice a week." Garrett and Leandra entered then. Leandra looked extremely excited to see Carver and I conversing, though I couldn't imagine why.

"Ah… Well, you've had your visit! Time for you to go!"

"_Carver_! Where did I go wrong? You both treat this lovely young woman like trash! How she can even stand to be near you two I have no idea." I sighed before smiling sadly at her.

"It's all right, Mistress Hawke. I was teasing him. Sorry, Carver. It _is_ nice to see you, though." I turned to look at him, smiling in apology. He smiled back, before turning back to his mother and sibling. Leandra looked positively _delighted_ and invited me to stay for dinner. I looked at the brothers, who seemed fine with it, and said yes. I had never had dinner with anyone other than Anders and Sierra before, so I was excited.

As Mama Hawke left us to cook the meal, I sat with the boys at the table, wondering what to say. We all looked at each other, before shifting our eyes away awkwardly, which sent me into a fit of giggles. Soon they joined me and Leandra had to tell us to quiet down before someone called the guards to tell us to do so themselves. After that, we settled into easy conversation. Carver asked me how my training had gone and although I was a little surprised, I really shouldn't have been. Garrett must have mentioned it to him.

"Really well! Garrett says I learned quicker than he could have anticipated." He nodded, and Garrett started talking about some more plans for the Deep Roads. I shuddered- the prospect of going to the Deep Roads terrified me. I knew they would never take me, of course, but I couldn't stand to think about Darkspawn. I had never seen one in person, but hearing them talk about it was enough to give me nightmares for a week.

Thankfully, that line of conversation was cut off when dinner was served. It was a lovely soup- I wolfed it down so quickly that Leandra looked a little stupefied. I told her that it was absolutely fantastic and if she wouldn't mind sharing the recipe with me. She smiled, flattered, and we got to talking about meals we could make on a low budget.

Sierra and I usually divided up the cooking at the clinic, as Anders was always far too busy and worn out. Or, that's what we told him. In reality he just wasn't very good at cooking. But we didn't mind, it gave us an opportunity to feel useful to him and he always enjoyed our meals, though I suspected that was more the Warden in him talking, not that they were actually divine cuisine.

At the end of the meal, Leandra wrote down a few recipes I could try. I hugged her in thanks and as I set out to leave after thanking them profusely yet again, the topic came up on which brother would walk me home. All of us aside from Leandra rolled our eyes- now that I was capable of controlling my magic, I was pretty safe from anyone but Templars and they never left Hightown. But Mama Hawke was adamant, so I tried to think of a compromise.

"I was going to see Varric and Isabela at the Hanged Man, actually," I decided, smiling. I wanted to see if Isabela wanted to go shopping tomorrow or not, anyway. "It's not even a block from here. I'm sure you guys are tired and Varric would have no problem walking me home if I wanted. He does it a lot for Merrill." That seemed to appease them and I walked out, bidding them farewell.


	11. Chapter 11

As I came to the Hanged Man, I was rather surprised when a very familiar and broody elf stepped out of the tavern and into the night. After a brief internal debate, I waved, calling out his name. Fenris looked at me without a hint of malice, so I walked over to him.

"Hey, Fenris! How're you? Beat Varric at Diamondback again?" He said nothing at first, instead glancing around the area suspiciously.

"You are… out here alone? At night?"

"Yes… I am." I tilted my head to the side, confused. He didn't seem drunk- he didn't even seem tipsy. But perhaps he was just hiding it well. He frowned, glancing around yet again before sighing.

"Why are you here in the first place? I thought the mage had chained you to his hovel so you could… _train_." He spat the last word out with obvious disgust, and although it was hard to ignore, I did not comment on it.

"Hawke said it was fine for me to be out again. I was visiting with him and his family for a while- I just left. Alas, neither of the Hawke brothers felt it needed to walk me home, so here I am! I'm pretty sure Varric would if I asked." I said with a chuckle, hoping to raise him out of the funk he was in by being lighthearted about it all. It did not work. In fact, his frown deepened into a scowl instead.

"_Venhedis_." He cursed, then turned to the direction of Darktown and began walking. Well, stalking down the street would be a more apt description. Anyway, I was confused- where was he going? Was I supposed to follow, or take a different path to Darktown? I stood there, unmoving, until Fenris turned around to look at me.

"Hurry up. I would not like a repeat of the last time you were caught unaware in a dangerous situation. In case you do not remember, you almost _died_."

"All right, all right! Maker's teeth, why so sour? Did you step on something sharp?" I asked as I hurried to catch up with him, reaching his side. His nose crinkled in distaste for a moment.

"Now you sound like the blood mage, asking if I stepped on something! Have any of you ever thought that it is all the needless _questions_ that annoy me? Poke, poke, poke, tell me everything about your life, Fenris! I was a slave, what more do you need to know?" He fumed as I nodded solemnly.

"Did Varric try to butter you up with cheap wine and the promise of winning at Diamondback as a way to get you to talk?" He nodded sourly.

"He should know better by now- only the Aggregio can bribe me." I let out a surprised laugh, and thought I saw a pleased smirk on his lips before it was immediately replaced by a scowl.

"But yes, I am tired of the inane prodding. And Hawke is even worse! At least Varric knows when to give up, but Hawke? He'll just keep asking and asking until I want to rip his heart out. Or at least his vocal chords. It most certainly doesn't help his case that he doesn't even have the decency to walk you home when it's late and the gangs are most active."

Until this point, I thought Fenris usually settled for quietly seething in the shadows of his borrowed mansion. I should have known better, however. Fenris wanted his displeasure known, and he wasn't about to deliver it delicately.

"Well, I _did_ call him Gary."

That granted me a small smirk, and the rest of the walk was spent in silence, though I did ask why he never wore shoes now that he could wear whatever he wanted. He simply shrugged and said he was used to not wearing shoes, so why bother? I couldn't find a reason to protest that other than my own squeamish tendencies- walking around any part of Kirkwall without shoes was just plain icky to me.

After a while, I felt like I was being watched. I looked at Fenris warily- his scowl was there, as usual, but he looked tense and he seemed to be itching to pull his sword out. I felt a little relieved, at least if we were ambushed, we wouldn't be too surprised.

It didn't take long for a figure to appear ahead of us, a human by the looks- tall and imposing. Only his eyes were visible with his mask, and they had a malicious look in them. I sighed, letting the magic well up in me, lightning dancing subtly on my finger tips. Fenris glowed slightly- whether in response to my magic or of his own will I didn't know. The man was soon joined by roughly ten others, with some more coming up behind us, boxing us in loosely.

"Why, look here, boys! A pretty girl and her elf. They should prove no trouble." They laughed as Fenris drew his sword and growled. "Now, now. All we want is your money- and maybe a little fun with the girly. No need to get touchy." At that, _I_ growled. When Fenris did not sheathe his blade, the leader sighed mockingly. "Oh, all right. Get 'em, boys!"

Battle cries sounded around me, and Fenris flew in ahead of me, slicing the man in two. I unleashed the lightning I had been gathering, striking numerous foes at once. I giggled a little, it looked like they were dancing as I electrocuted them. It helped me to ignore that I was having an active hand in killing people.

Feeling a presence come up behind me, I swirled around, freezing a man in his tracks. He had his sword raised above me, telling me that had I been a second later, I'd be dead. Before I could think too hard he was in pieces on the ground, shattered by Fenris and he raced past, cutting down another. Glancing around, I saw there were only two men left, both staring at me in obvious fear. I raised my frost covered hands towards them menacingly, and they dropped their weapons, before taking off in a run. I wasn't going to let them scurry off just to try mugging someone else, though, so I froze them before they got too far. Fenris stalked over, and shattered them.

I grinned at Fenris as my heartbeat stopped thundering in my ears, but as the adrenaline faded, I looked around myself in horror. There was blood and gore decorating the ground everywhere, and I fell to my knees, retching. Maker, I had just _killed_ people. Granted, they weren't good people, but still. People. Fenris came over to me, crouching down next to me awkwardly as I sat back up and began crying.

"How- how do you live with yourself? After killing people? Not you specifically, just... anyone. Holy Maker, I can't believe it. Does it get easier? I'm not sure I want it to."

"No. But you learn to live with it, and console yourself with the fact that it was either you or them. They weren't good people. If they hadn't accosted us, they would have attacked somebody else, someone who probably wouldn't have been able to defend themselves. I'd say you did the world a favor." I sniffled and nodded, standing back up. He looked immensely relieved and were it not for the circumstances, I probably would have giggled. I suspect that no man knows what to do around a crying woman, even someone as gruff as Fenris.

As we began walking again, I noticed Fenris clutching his side and grunting in exertion. Stopping, I saw blood seeping between the fingers of his gauntlet, and gasped. My hands started to glow with healing energy as I darted over to him, but before I could do anything, his markings glowed and his free hand surged forward to grab at mine, effectively disrupting my focus.

"No." He growled from between clenched teeth, and I put my hands on my hips, annoyed. Was he really going to do this with _me_?

"Okay, I understand you not liking magic. I hate that it happened to you, and I wish I could fix it somehow. But I'm trying to help you. You're hurt more than you realize. If you just let me heal it..." He shook his head, and I sighed. "I think it's been clear from the get go that I don't really _want_ to be a mage. And, in case you've already forgotten, just a few minutes ago I was physically sick after killing people. Don't you realize I would sooner die than hurt one of my friends?"

He didn't deny me again, though he didn't look ready to agree, either. I grinned, thinking of the one thing I knew would win my case. "You know, if you don't let _me_ heal it, Anders will insist. Your mutual hatred aside; he's a healer, it's just what he is. He can't let an injured person walk away without him doing everything he can, it's against everything he knows. So, it's either me or him."

I wanted to laugh as Fenris quickly dropped his hands, allowing me to move forward, but refrained. Somehow I knew laughing at him wouldn't really endear me to him. I settled for a sigh as I took a closer look at the wound- it was worse than I had initially thought. If he was in a lot of pain, he did a very good job at masking it.

"I'm going to need you to sit down and remove your cuirass. This is worse than I thought." I told him, casting a spell wisp to improve the lighting. After a moment of hesitation, he did as I told, and my mouth gaped open as I took in his muscular chest. And the tattoos made it all the more sexy. _You're healing him, not sleeping with him!_ I admonished myself, returning to my task.

As my hands made contact with his wound, his markings began to glow, but after I glanced quickly at his face I deduced he wasn't hostile. More... nervous, I suppose. The glow was probably the lyrium responding to the magic being so direct. I hummed quietly as I closed the large stab wound- repairing any internal damage before closing it up. I ran a finger gently along his side to check for scarring, and pretended not to notice as he sucked in a breath at my touch.

Satisfied there wasn't any scarring, I detached myself from him, smiling proudly. "All done, I think. Feel better?" He nodded, saying nothing as he stood up and redressed himself. We continued walking without further incident.

All too soon, we had reached the clinic, which left us in an awkward silence as we both struggled for something to say so he could leave and I could go inside. This left me a little baffled; I _never_ had problems with finding something to say to lighten the mood around guys I liked. And even more baffling was that Fenris spoke first.

"Ah… I will leave you, then. Good night." Inwardly I panicked, desperate for something to come forth in my mind.

"Are you sure you'll be all right? I know you can handle yourself and all but it's a long walk back to Hightown and like we saw the gangs are very active at night and I could get you a cot here and- yeah, I'll just stop babbling now. Thank you, Fenris. Good night." He nodded and smiled slightly before making his way back out of Darktown. I watched until he was out of sight before going inside the clinic, leaning against the door after I locked it behind me and sighing dreamily as I recalled how perfect his body was, and the way it felt under my hands.

"Why are you sighing like that?" Ah, shit. I should have checked around me before indulging in such girlish fantasies- now Anders was staring at me skeptically.

"No reason…"

"Uh-huh. Was that Fenris I heard out there? Did he walk you here?"

"Psh! Like I need somebody to walk me home. You must have been hearing things." He raised an eyebrow and looked very smug for a reason I didn't want to think too hard on.

"Oh? So I heard you babbling to Fenris in my own head about having him staying here instead of going to Hightown? I've never even _heard_ you babble- I thought it was impossible. But, of course, I was just hearing things, right?"

"Exactly."

"You do realize I'm not dropping this until you tell me what's going on, correct?" I scowled at him.

"Yes, I realize this. I hope you realize I'm not telling you until… well, never! So… ha!" Maker's breath, one walk home with the man and I was still fumbling for words even _after_ he left.

"No attempts to get me to talk to Sierra, or go soak my head? Holy Maker, could it be that the all mighty Kayla has a _crush_ on Fenris that has reduced her to a bumbling girl whenever he's around?" Anders looked positively delighted and I had half a mind to smack that look of superiority right off his face.

"Bah, Blight take you."

"Ha! This is amazing. Finally, I have something to hold over your head! Unless you want to stop making fun of me and Sierra… That could persuade me to forget all this ever happened."

Oh, that was _so_ unfair.

"Never!" He just smiled at me.

"You do know what this means, don't you?"

"Other than me wanting to kick you? No."

"Silly Kayla… This means _war_."


	12. Chapter 12

Over the next few weeks, between the clinic and adventures with Hawke, Anders did not have much time to wage war on me, to which I was thankful. But it had a downside of course; now I couldn't tease him, either. I had to settle on Sierra and she's just no fun to tease when Anders isn't around. If he was around I could practically hear her heart beating against her chest and her face always had a nice pink hue to it. But if he was out with Hawke or busy healing a patient, she was helping someone else and apparently not seeing him in her line of vision made her calm and absolutely an impenetrable wall to my teasing.

Needless to say, I was bored.

About two weeks after my late-night adventure, Garrett showed up at the clinic, looking excited. Sadly, his excitement deflated when he saw how busy Anders was and the long line of people waiting. I was healing some too, to lighten the load, but Anders wouldn't relinquish most of them. I watched Sierra go over to him as he pouted by the door, and as soon as I was done, I went over to join them.

"What's the matter?"

"Well, I got this job from the _Prince_ of Starkhaven- to wipe out the mercenaries who killed his family. This is a well paying job, and it would be grand to have him on our side. Problem is no one is available. Not even Varric! I'd hope that if I could at least get Anders I'd be all right, but..." I had an idea. And it was enough to make me squeal.

"You know, Sierra's pretty fantastic with a bow... And I'm good at combat magic _and_ healing. You could try us out." I looked to Sierra- she looked pretty elated at the idea, too. But Garrett was shaking his head and I moved to pout and use my puppy eyes on him.

"If you're not sold on me, watch my healing for a bit. I'm not as good as Anders and I probably never will be, but I'm catching up. You taught me most of my other spells, too! 'Sides, I've already been in a battle before. Fenris and I make a nice team." He looked surprised.

"True... I managed to weasel out what happened that night from him- I had heard rumors about two people matching your guy's description fighting a gang. Impressive. But, what about Sierra?" She rolled her eyes, as if to say '_really_?', but answered him anyway.

"The day Kay was hurt. Once I got Anders and Fenris, we went out to save her and fight them. I shot half of them before Fenris could even curse." I looked to her, impressed. She had never told me that. And, by the way he was looking at her, I could tell Garrett was impressed too. Now all we had to do was convince Anders.

"No. Absolutely not! Hawke, you _know_ the kinds of scrapes you get into! They aren't ready! You'll get them killed! Besides, you're all ranged attackers. You'd need at least one person with a sword in case somebody tried to engage one of you in close quarters. I won't agree unless you can find someone."

"Ugh. Fine, Anders. I'll drag Carver out, he's been pouting with mother all day. Happy?" I suppose Anders wasn't actually expecting him to find someone, or at least not so quickly, judging by the aghast expression he had, but he agreed. We were sent on our merry way once Anders sat Sierra and I down, telling us to be careful and all that other mother-hen stuff.

Once Garrett dragged Carver with us to the Coast, where the first group was, I started to feel a little nervous. I didn't want to disappoint him, or get somebody hurt. Well, somebody on _our_ side hurt. I looked to Sierra to see that I wasn't alone in my apprehension. She was clutching her bow like a lifeline, not even looking at me. Before I could say anything, however, Garrett was gesturing for us to lay low and come forward.

"All right, you two. I want you to stay on higher ground, away from the biggest group. If you can, try and be stationed on two different sides, so you can pick off more of them that way. Carver and I will be in the thick of it, so be sure not to hit us. Got it?" We nodded, and then we all turned. Carver took a deep breath, drawing his sword, before giving a loud cry and running into the clearing, Garrett on his heels.

I started to summon a chained lightning affect, Sierra darting past me to another side, arrows flying all the while. Nearly every arrow she notched hit its target and as I let loose the lightning, we thinned the herd even more. I froze an assailant behind Carver, shouting for him, but as soon as he turned around I looked to find a new target. I spotted Garrett being pushed back by a rather large group, but a burst of fire from me put them down. Before I could rejoice, there was a dark chuckle from behind me and I swirled around to find three more men behind me.

One raised his sword, but before I could even scream, an arrow was lodged in his neck and he fell to the ground. So did the one to his left and then to his right. This all happened in the blink of an eye, and soon enough, there were no more foes alive. I turned to Sierra, standing on the whole other side of the clearing and squealed in amazement.

My best friend was a _bad-ass_.

We all joined in the middle of the clearing, where the majority of the bodies were and Garrett praised us for our help before looting all the bodies. The other two groups we had to kill went smoothly and the most I had to heal was a small cut on Carver's arm. All in all, I'd say it was a success. Sierra and I returned to the clinic, drenched in blood, but satisfied and proud.

"Maker's Breath! What happened to you two? Are you hurt? Where's Hawke?"

"Oh, calm down, _mom_. This isn't our blood. By the way, have I ever told you how awesome Sierra is? 'Cause she's _awesome_." I told him and Sierra giggled. Anders calmed down slightly, but still insisted on checking us over before sending us to get cleaned up and ready for bed.

But Sierra and I could handle ourselves. And we weren't going to let them forget it.


	13. Chapter 13

Eventually, the deep roads expedition came. Garrett would never take Sierra and I for something like this, because we had never even _seen_ a Darkspawn, let alone be prepared to fight them. We found ourselves hoping he wouldn't take Anders either, but it was a vain hope. It would be a lot safer for him if he did take Anders- he was a Warden and a healer after all. Sierra and I also seemed to understand a lot more about the situation of 'going into the deep roads' than Hawke as he was convinced it would be a nice and easy trip where no one would ever get hurt. I was torn between smacking him and hugging him- smacking him because if he didn't realize that people would get hurt no matter what, it would make the dangers even worse and hugging him because he was my friend and I was worried he wasn't going to come back.

He was only taking another person from his crew besides Varric and Anders- Isabela. Her, Sierra, and I were nearly the same mind when we were all together, so it was hard to see her go. But I couldn't fathom _why_ she wanted to go with Hawke. From what I knew of her she cared about nothing other than money, sex, and alcohol. The Deep Roads didn't really have a promise of the last two.

But I couldn't spend my time worrying about that. Sierra was beside herself with worry and while I was too, I was better at keeping it in than her, so I comforted her when I wasn't freaking out myself. We walked with Anders to where he was meeting with the others in Hightown, Sierra and I fretting about him like overprotective mothers all the way. He seemed to appreciate the sentiment as he wasn't too fond about going to the Deep Roads either, but he was concerned over his friend's well-being if he didn't go, so he sucked it up and joined them.

As we reached the others I was surprised to see the rest of Hawke's crew there as well- apparently they all had the same idea of seeing their leader and their other friends off. I gave Anders a long hug and whispered in his ear to come back to us or I would find him in the Fade and _kill_ him. As I pulled away he nodded and laughed slightly and Sierra stepped forward to give him a bone-crushing hug of her own. He looked like he never wanted to let her go and by the tears in his eyes I knew that he loved her, but just didn't know what to say. He pulled apart from her as Hawke came over to me, capturing me in one of the most terrified hugs I'd ever been in.

"Watch over all of them, will you? You're a leader. They'll listen. And, you know, I'll miss you." He whispered urgently in my ear and I nodded, kissing his cheek as I wiped away my tears. I then dropped to my knees to pull Varric in a hug, which seemed to surprise him to say the least. Last was Isabela. I knew she wasn't big on open affection, but at this moment I didn't care. I wrapped her in my arms and told her to come back soon because I had heard there was a new shoe shop opening and I needed _someone_ with fashion sense to go with. It seemed to be the perfect mix of affection and indifference for her and she laughed, telling me she would try her best. We all stood back as they went off, waving and wiping away tears.

Carver left as soon as they started walking away. He was furious at not being able to go. His mother stayed until her eldest was out of sight, sighing sadly as the caravan faded into the distance. Merrill came over to us blinking back tears of her own before wrapping us as tightly as she could in her tiny elven arms in a hug. She offered a Dalish prayer before turning to leave. Aveline was next, placing an armored hand reassuringly on Sierra's shoulder before turning to go back to the Keep so she could look over even _more_ paperwork. It seemed being promoted to Guard Captain after exposing the previous Captain's dishonorable actions was apparently not as easy as it sounded, not that I thought that sounded easy in the first place, but she assured me it was even harder.

I didn't spy Fenris anywhere, so thinking that he had left I turned to the stairwell with Sierra to go back to the clinic, but as I did I smacked into someone, losing my balance and staggering back before they reached out and steadied me. Looking up I saw Fenris and for the first time I realized he was actually taller than me. This struck me as kind of weird- I towered over all the other elves I knew, and I knew _plenty_ living in Darktown- but I liked it nonetheless.

"Oh, hello." I said, smiling at him. He nodded, but did not let go of my arms. "Fenris? You can let go of me now." I heard Sierra sniffle and snicker behind me, but Fenris merely raised a brow.

"Must I?"

"Um… no?" I blinked owlishly and blushed, averting my gaze from his as he smirked and let me go. Sierra slid back up to me, pinching me subtly on the elbow, causing me to squeak before sending me a smug glance and continuing back to Darktown. I glared and huffed in frustration.

"That _witch_. I am so getting revenge. Somehow. Anyway, it was nice seeing you Fenris. I have to go before Sierra gets herself killed. Though I plan to kill her myself anyway, I would prefer she remain safe until I have a chance to give her a piece of my mind… Uh, bye!" He nodded at me, and I turned to follow the path Sierra had taken, blushing and scheming all the while.

The following week as Sierra was making poultices while I was healing, she pointed out that she was running very low on flasks for them. I brought my hand to my chin, thinking.

"Hm… I know Elegant carries Elfroot, but not flasks. Tomwise has neither, and Worthy is all runes. Any ideas? I'll go out and get some if I can."

"I overheard Hawke telling Anders of a supplier in Hightown, off the corner of the Marketplace, but not too close to the Rose. Closer to the Estates, I guess. Could you look there?" I nodded before finishing up the healing- I had to remind myself to stock up on some ingredients for lyrium potions as well. I was in no way close to the amount of stamina Anders had when he was healing, so I had to rely heavily on potions if I wanted to heal throughout the day like he did. Though I had to admit, I was getting better at it.

I was far more confident about leaving the clinic alone these days for I could just freeze any would-be assailant stone solid. Though if a Templar noticed me I would definitely be screwed, but not a lot were present outside of the Gallows and the Hightown Chantry, thankfully. I decided to dress up a bit, to blend in with the high-ups of Hightown. It was nothing impressive- just a fairly nice blue tunic and leggings. I had also cut my hair rather short, though not for vanity purposes, sadly. It had been too much hair to deal with, and I didn't have the time to mess with it if it got in my way. It also helped me pass as a boy on first glance, but only if you didn't take in my curves. I got propositioned far less these days, much to my satisfaction.

I walked up the steps into the Hightown Market, pausing briefly to say hello to Worthy before continuing on my journey. I whistled as I walked, and although it took a while, I found a little shop not far away from the would-be Hawke mansion, if everything played out all right. I strode in, greeted by a very old woman who looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn't place it.

"Hello, there. May I help you?"

"Uh, yes, please. I was hoping you might have some flasks? Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, lyrium dust? A Templar commissioned me to find some for him- he's going to be taking a group of mages to another circle, and he thought having some lyrium potions might be useful if they got into any scrapes." I was lying through my teeth, of course, but I wasn't about to tell someone I just met that I was a mage and wanted to drink the potions myself.

"Why yes, of course! A pretty little mage like you can have all the lyrium she needs." I froze solid, staring at her in wide-eyed fear while she just cackled merrily, albeit a little insanely.

"Do not worry, my dear. I've spent _many_ years on the run from the fool Templars. I'm not about to call them into my shop where they're just as likely to take _me_ to the Gallows as you."

"I… see. Thank you, then… I suppose mages can sense others of their kind, though I haven't quite figured out how." She just nodded, seemingly in thought as I browsed through her stock and taking what I needed. I put them into a large satchel I carried with me, pulling out my coinpurse as well. The woman started to wave me off.

"No need, no need! You'll need all the help you can get in the days to come, why shouldn't I contribute in some way? Money's always nice to have, isn't it?" I raised a brow before slowly putting my coinpurse back in its place, becoming increasingly wary of this woman. She seemed crazy, but that look in her eye was just so omniscient I couldn't help but think that I was the insane one.

"Thank you, ma'am…"

"Why, such manners! Always in the last place you look, like stockings… Ha! Be on your way now. I'm sure I'll see you again soon."

Needless to say, I got the hell out of there. I rounded the corner and as if on cue, a Templar entered the square I was in. I froze before trying to calm my beating heart and attempting to walk casually in the opposite direction. Thankfully, he didn't seem to spare me a moments glance, and I raced back to the clinic. As I scurried in, I bumped into someone, nearly dropping my bag. I didn't spare them a glance as I tossed the bag to Sierra before going to the back room, and slamming the door behind me.

I heard her calling my name, but I couldn't respond, not yet. The fear of being caught, and of that woman, scared me into silence as I wrapped my arms around my knees and just tried to make myself small. Of course, Sierra wasn't about to leave me be, so when she came in and sat next to me I just sighed.

"Thanks for getting the stuff. Are you all right?"

"I guess. It was just... weird. The lady, at the store? She was apparently a mage, too, and could sense me. She was so all-knowing, and kind of insane. It was creepy. I'd rather find another supplier of lyrium and flasks from now on. And,as I was leaving, there was a Templar. He didn't seem to notice me, but... it was still terrifying." I told her and she put an arm around me. We sat in silence for a few more moments before she spoke up again.

"You know, you ran into Fenris when you came in. He was here looking for you, actually. Maybe you should go out and see him." My head snapped up and over to her at this. I had run into him and didn't even _notice_ it was him? Maker's Breath, I was more out of sorts than I thought. I nodded to her and as we went back into the main room, I spotted Fenris staring at me, looking confused. I smiled sheepishly and went over to him.

"Sorry about that. Had a weird experience in Hightown. What's up?"

"Ah... well, Aveline came by the mansion earlier, telling me about an ambush she had overheard taking place tonight. She was wondering if I might assist, and ask you to come as well." He looked about awkwardly as he spoke and I smiled excitedly.

"Sure, I'd love to. Should Sierra come as well?" He nodded. "Okay. We'll meet you two at the base of the Keep. It'll be fun." He left as quickly as he could and I giggled before telling Sierra of our new plans.

Needless to say, we were going to kick ass.


	14. Chapter 14

"Why do you think Aveline wanted us? And sent Fenris to tell us?" Sierra asked as we made our way out of the muck of Darktown. I shrugged. She was over-analyzing it, but I couldn't blame her. I thought on it for a moment.

"Well, the people that she would usually ask to go with her are in the Deep Roads. That leaves Merrill, Carver, Fenris, and us. Merrill's a blood mage, Carver is fairly insufferable to anyone _but_ me or Merrill, strangely enough. Fenris and Aveline get along well enough, and you know us- we're delightful."

"True."

"As for him asking us, she probably just didn't have the time to go all the way to Darktown if she wanted to be free to stop the ambush. I'm not sure what Fenris _does_ all day in that mansion, but he has more free time than her, I would think. That's pretty much it."

"Good point. I don't know why I'm worrying so much. I just have a bad feeling about all of this." She said as we approached our two comrades. Aveline looked relieved to see us probably because we had been running late after an unexpectedly long healing session I had to go through, but we still had time before the ambush was said to be planned for. She led us to the markets, where we spotted a large group of men armed to the teeth, and dressed in all black.

"Who's the target?"

"I heard it was just a single woman. She must be pretty dangerous if they feel so many men are necessary to take her down." I nodded and started to think of a plan. Garrett did say I was a leader, after all. Best to look the part.

"Okay, I've got a framework." I started, and my companions turned to look at me. I didn't pay attention to the surprise on their faces. "Sierra, as soon as you can I want you to get on to higher ground and rain arrows on them. Now, there's a section with stairs leading up it, but if you can't get there try a market stall against a wall or post. Aveline, stand near her and make sure no one gets close enough to touch her. Fenris, you're with me. I'm going to try and freeze and paralyze them, then you can get them easily. Sound good?" They all nodded and I smiled, signaling them forward with a wave of my hand.

Racing in, the men waiting to spring their trap were clearly caught off guard as they were scrambling for their weapons and some even jumping from where they had been sitting on the ground. I unleashed a cone of ice on the first few in front of me and, like I told him, Fenris was there to cut them down. I turned to see Sierra race up the stairs, Aveline in tow. Someone crept out of the shadows and I prepared to shoot lightning at him when a dagger flew out from nowhere, impaling him in the chest. I shook my head- I couldn't afford to wonder where that had come from with all these mercenaries around me.

Swiftly spinning around, I caught the few that had come up behind me in a mind blast before darting over to Fenris, who looked to be nearly overwhelmed. Another dagger flew out, killing what seemed to be the commander of our assailants. The rest seemed to falter at the loss and I sent a torrent of lightning at all of them, quickly ending the pitiful fight.

As my friends sheathed their weapons and began looting, I pulled the stray daggers out of the bodies, wincing at the sickening sound. A brief scan of the area yielded no ally or foe. Shrugging, I stole a piece of paper from a nearby stall and left a brief note.

_Friends of yours? Don't worry, we all know __**those**__ types. Still, if you need further help, find me in Darktown- look for the lit lantern. Along with my obviously superior combat skills, I'm also a decent healer. No purchase necessary!_

_-Kayla_

Crossing over to a post, I stuck the message to a wall using the daggers I had retrieved. I had a feeling they were still watching and would be by to collect my note once we were long gone. Sierra came over to me, raising a brow and laughing slightly at my note, but made no further comment. I just shrugged and Aveline told us to come by her office at the Keep in the morning to collect our reward before departing for the barracks.

"How many did you get?" I asked Sierra as we began walking. I noticed Fenris lingering behind us- I suspected he wanted to see us home safely without actually talking to us. I paid him no mind and Sierra didn't seem to notice him at all.

"Twelve, at least. You?" I pouted, and she looked smug. I figured she had already counted the people I had gotten and just wanted to rub it in my face how amazing she was. Not that I could blame her, I would have done the same.

"Ten."

"Ha! You owe me ten silvers. Pay up by the end of the week or your journal gets it. And by get I mean I will read it aloud on the streets of Lowtown for all to hear."

"Ugh. I was hoping you'd forgotten about that wager, with all the excitement. _Fine_."

We walked in quiet for some time, Fenris ever watchful. I stepped in something awful and squishy, and squeaked loud enough for Sierra to laugh and Fenris to come over and see what was going on.

"_Ewwwww_. It's all over my shoe! I don't have a lot of shoes, I can't ruin these!" Sad, sad day. I took my shoe off carefully to examine the muck and it sure didn't look like any kind of thing I had ever seen. I had been expecting it to be brown and poopy, but this was a kind of pinkish color, and looked very sickly.

"Did you step in someone's entrails?!"

"Maker!" I squealed, dropping the shoe and hopping away from it. Fenris shook his head and retrieved it to take a look for himself, while Sierra was deeply considering losing her dinner all over the ground. Before I could join her, however, Fenris inhaled sharply.

"What?"

"It looks to be a piece of an abomination."

"Seriously? Please tell me you're joking." I did _not_ want to come face to face with what I could become if I wasn't careful and not a complete idiot. Fenris shook his head before handing my disgusting shoe back and drawing his sword. I cleaned the shoe as best I could in the middle of Lowtown, quickly joining him and Sierra in looking for any clues.

"The Foundry." I turned to Sierra and she pointed at a sickening trail.

"Ugh. Should we go get Aveline? Maybe Carver?"

"No. The abominations and demons might be allowed to escape, then. While _you_ might be okay with that, I am not." Fenris growled that at me before stalking past. I looked to Sierra, wide-eyed. She shrugged and signaled that she would talk with me later- for now, Fenris was right, even if he was a big jerk face about it.

We crept into the Foundry as quietly as we could, battle ready. If there were abominations and demons, it would be a tough fight. I wasn't entirely sure we would even get out of it.

"Do you hear anything?" I whispered to the two elves, who had significantly better hearing than I.

"Maybe we would if you would be silent." Love you too, Fenris. Nug Humper.

As I stayed behind, silently fuming, a chill ran up my back and froze me with fear. A quiet voice echoed in my mind, so quiet I wasn't sure if it was there. I looked ahead, where my friends remained completely unaware. I found that I couldn't speak. I wanted to hear the voice again. Just a little more...

"Andraste's frilly-smallclothes!" I shouted as I fell down, gasping as I somehow broke from my trance. Without looking, I let loose lightning at the demon that was no doubt behind me, hoping to at least distract if from possessing me. I would much rather it move on to killing me, instead.

"Come now, dear, is that any way to treat someone who just wants to be your friend?" The demon cooed over the chaos. Abominations and lesser demons blocked my friends from me- I was on my own. I thought hard on what Garrett had told me about demons.

_Don't let them talk._ _Don't believe a word they say._

"Shut up!" I shouted, quickly getting to my feet and whirling around with ice blasting from my fingertips. The demon wailed as she was partially frozen and screeched as I electrocuted her. She faded away, banished from this realm. For the time being, at least. I breathed a sigh of relief before helping my comrades finish off the rest of the horrendous bunch.

"Maker's breath, that was terrible." I said, but quickly shut up as Fenris stalked toward me, marking's still glowing and sword still raised. Sierra put herself between us quickly, voice rising as she tried to talk him down.

"She's okay! She's okay, Fenris. Please. Just look at her! Kayla's strong. She wouldn't let that thing possess her. She even killed it!" Still, he approached. I merely stared, sad that it had come to this. And to think, I had once thought us friends. Or somewhat close to being friends, anyway. But then I thought that if I was actually possessed, I wouldn't want to live as some demon's puppet.

Sierra drew her bow, notching an arrow and aiming at him. I didn't want this. If she missed, she would be cut down too. If she didn't miss... I don't think either of us could deal with that. I patted her shoulder and moved her out of the way. I walked the rest of the distance, staring him straight in the eye before bracing myself.

He sheathed his sword, and walked away, markings dimming.

"Very well. Let us continue back to Darktown." Oh, hold up. He did _not_ just get to act like everything was okay.

"So, you're just going to act like you _weren't_ just about to kill me?"

"I was checking if you were possessed. Were you, I would have cut you down. You would have been a danger to everyone and it is no life you would want to live. However, you are not possessed, and so I did not." He acted so calm about it all, which only made me angrier.

"Why you yellow dick! Couldn't you just fucking say 'oh let me see if you're possessed, Kayla,' instead of stalking toward me with a great big fucking sword drawn? You have been a grade A asshole to me since we discovered this shit and you're going to act like it's all _okay _now?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sierra shifting away as quietly as she could, not wanting to get anywhere near this fight. I couldn't really blame her.

"You should calm down. Someone might hear you yelling and call the guards." I'm pretty sure I developed a twitch in my eye right then. I stomped out of the Foundry, going to great lengths to stay at least twenty yards ahead of him. Sierra caught up with me quickly, but remained silent.

"There are going to be so many words said to that ass as soon as possible. Words, Sierra. _Words_."


	15. Chapter 15

About a week later, I was about to collapse from sheer exhaustion. How in the world did Anders manage to do this every day without fail, for months on end? Healing was absolutely the most exhausting form of magic ever. Anders must not have been joking about that Grey Warden stamina.

Before I could get too focused on wallowing in self pity, someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned to see a pretty elf with red hair and blue-green eyes, looking ill. I smiled at her reassuringly, leading her to a cot and sitting her down.

"What seems to be the problem? I can't see any wounds on you."

"My stomach. It's been killing me for days! I should have known not to try that cheese." I laughed a little before sending a wave of magic towards her and she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Better?"

"Much, thanks. I know this might sound weird, but do you mind if I hang around for a bit? I've always been so interested in magic, it'd be nice to see you work. I could even help out, if you wanted." The request struck me as a bit odd and put me on edge, but I looked at her earnest face and found I couldn't say no. Damn elves and their pretty eyes.

"Sure. Go over to Sierra- she's that blonde elf in the corner that likes to yell at me- and see if she has anything for you to do." She nodded and was off to do as I told.

She watched me like a hawk whenever she could. I felt her eyes staring holes into my back, but as I was usually preoccupied, I couldn't do anything about it. Near the end of the day, Aveline came in, looking a little stressed.

"Hey, buddy. What's up?"

"I just got a report on a massacre in the Foundry. Would you know anything about that?" I nodded before motioning for her to sit down and wait while I applied a few poultices. She started up a conversation with Sierra, who filled her in on what had happened. Leaving out the bit with Fenris, of course.

"My shoe is still in disrepair. Tragic, I must say."

"I'm sure it is. Did either of you happen to see anything out of the ordinary there? No human bodies?"

"No, though we didn't spare much time for searching after the demons were gone. Have people gone missing?" Aveline sighed heavily and nodded, looking a little hesitant to reveal information around so many people.

"If you can wait, we're almost done I think. Or we could go see you tomorrow at the Keep."

"I'll wait, thanks. I have been requested to take a day off. Apparently I've been working too much."

"So, your idea of taking a day off is to come and interrogate us on a case? Aveline, you lazy girl." She laughed and raised her hands in mock surrender before settling on staring suspiciously at my extra helper. I shrugged, if I wasn't so busy I might have been doing the same.

We carried on quickly after that- with an efficient extra pair of hands, we closed much earlier than usual, for which I was grateful. Before my helper could leave without me talking to her, I subtly blocked the entrance from her. The slight change in her eyes before they settled on innocent confusion told me she noticed my maneuver.

"I just realized I never got your name. I'd be awfully rude if I couldn't thank you properly for helping me today. You were a great help."

"Oh! My name is Cain, actually. I know, it doesn't really suit me, but my parents had been hoping for a boy."

"I think it's a lovely name. Thank you, Cain. I'll let you go now."

Aveline, Sierra, and I all watched her go.

"She's not an extremely good spy, is she?" Aveline asked and I huffed a laugh.

"I don't think this is her usual style. Maybe she's used to infiltrating places where the people could care less about her name. She probably rarely had to talk to anyone."

"Still, I wonder why she's scouting you two. While she was more focused on Kayla, she watched Sierra as well. Interesting." I sat next to them, joining in the thought pool. Sierra thought of something first, and piped up.

"What if she needs us to help her and wants to see what kind of people we are? That makes sense. I wouldn't want to hire somebody without checking them out first."

"Good point. Maybe she was purposefully awful at being spy-like and wanted to see if we were smart enough to catch on? I know she realized what I was doing at the door. I saw it in her eyes."

"Not a bad idea, girls. Moving on, though, a few women have gone missing. From what I was told of them by their family or friends, they weren't particularly adventurous. I don't think they would have run away on a whim, or for some secret lover. None were from Lowtown. One was even a Circle Mage." I looked to Aveline in surprise. I wondered how she could have escaped and if the Templars were particularly vigilant in getting her back.

"Templar interest?" I asked.

"Next to none. From what I know, only one Templar is actively trying to find her, a man named Emeric. He seems to be a decent enough sort, but he's getting on his years, and Meredith doesn't seem to enjoy listening to his conspiracy theory and thus told him to go to me."

"So, he thinks she was murdered? How would he connect it to the other missing women?"

"The Foundry, of course. It all led there, where you lot saw the demons. _That's_ definitely bad news." Aveline stood up then. "Thank you for your help. That's a lot of information I wouldn't have had otherwise. Goodnight, girls."

"Oh, you might want to check with Fenris. He might have spotted something we didn't. Goodnight, Aveline." And with that, Sierra and I locked down the clinic and went to sleep quite merrily.


	16. Chapter 16

The next few days brought a small reprieve from the never ending flow of refugees desperate for healing. It certainly made me happy- a break was something to be treasured in my line of work. And since we had time on our hands, Sierra suggested we take an afternoon stroll through Lowtown and perhaps window shop a bit.

"Boy, does it feel great to be out of there for a bit." I said as we walked arm in arm through the market, occasionally stopping to look at something that caught our eye. She merely hummed in agreement, stopping when a familiar ginger came into view. The new Captain of the Guard was talking with a rather handsome man with spectacular armor which was white, extremely shiny, and obviously expensive.

"Aveline!" I called, waving to her when she turned. She smiled slightly and motioned for us to come over. I did, gleefully. I just had to see this guy up close, and oh my, did he ever live up to expectations. His eyes were so beautiful and sweet, and his accent... Holy Maker. I was so caught up in it that I went into a bit of a trance, only to be snapped out of it by Sierra pinching me.

"Oh. Sorry. I do that a lot. Did I miss introductions? I totally missed introductions. Oops." I hoped I looked properly contrite, but I didn't really care too much. Thankfully, he even _smiled_ at me.

"Not to worry, my lady." Oh holy moly he called me a lady. Oh Maker. "I'm Sebastian, of Starkhaven. You were introduced as Kayla, yes?" I shook his hand, nearly melting. I looked to Sierra to see if she was nearly as affected as I, but alas, she only looked mildly impressed.

"That's the name." I winked, positively delighted when he grinned at me. Then I noticed the absolutely gorgeous bow strapped to his back and had to blink in surprise. Why couldn't I be an archer? Bows were awesome. Maybe I could convince someone to train me one of these days. Preferably someone with a magnificent accent.

"You're an archer?" Sierra asked. Oh, apparently she noticed it as well.

"That I am. My grandfather taught me as a pup. Are you interested in archery?" Sierra motioned to her own bow on her back and smiled at him before shrugging, as if to say 'how could you tell?' I giggled a bit, Sebastian seemed so happy to have someone to talk to about his (probably) favorite past time. I turned to Aveline, but I felt an odd sensation as Sebastian yelped (a _manly_ yelp, mind you) and startled a bit, looking behind him. Someone must have zapped him, and it surely wasn't me. Though that could have been fun.

I looked past him and squealed to the high heavens, before darting towards the source of my excitement.

They were back!

Anders, Garrett, Isabela, and Varric, all there and accounted for! They all smiled greatly at me as I launched myself towards them, tackling Garrett to the ground in my joy. Anders walked past me- to Sierra, I presume, but I just grinned down at the man I was currently sitting on.

"You're here! Oh, it's so good to see you! All of you. Did you find anything? Is the Hawke name going to be the most influential name in the city?"

"I'd be glad to tell you if you got off of me." I complied and helped him up, giving him a hug before making both Isabela and Varric uncomfortable with my affection. As I turned around, Garrett held up a rather large box, beckoning me to look inside. I nearly fainted.

That had to be a hundred sovereigns, at _least_. And the look he gave me told me this wasn't even the beginning at all they had found. I was tempted to jump up and down and squeal again, but then I realized that I should be spying on Anders and Sierra. I looked past Garrett to see Anders clutching Sierra very closely to his side as he talked politely with Aveline and that's when it hit me.

Anders had zapped Sebastian. _Anders _had zapped Sebastian. Anders had _zapped _Sebastian. In broad daylight. In the middle of the bustling Lowtown Market. I glared holes into his back. He was _so_ going to get it.

"He is _such_ an idiot." I muttered. Garrett murmured his agreement before bidding farewell to Varric and Isabela. The latter had me promise to meet her at the Hanged Man tomorrow for some much needed shopping with Sierra, of course. Soon, Garrett was off as well, no doubt happy to return to his family.

Sweeping back over to Anders, he relinquished his hold on Sierra long enough to capture me in a big bear hug. As soon as I was released, however, he caught her up at his side again. The poor dear was grinning like a fool, endlessly happy. I couldn't help but smile, happy for them. Hopefully they might actually move past this in a 'let me kiss your brains out' manner.

After dismissing ourselves from Sebastian and Aveline, we carried on to Darktown, but not before I got in another wink with Sebastian. He also told Sierra that anytime she wanted to, she could come by the Chantry and he could give her a few pointers. I looked to Anders, unsurprised when he clutched Sierra so close I thought he might break her in half. Sierra nodded her thanks and we were on our way.

Before he could regale us with the tale of their adventure, Sierra and I forced him to bathe. He smelled like the wrong side of Darktown and that is anything but good. Once he was clean and content, we sat down to listen.

"He did _what_?!" I shouted, thoroughly appalled. Bartrand was a backstabbing nug humper that deserved to be fed to the Archdemon. And that didn't even begin to what I'm sure Varric wanted to do to him. Sierra was growling in her anger, but Anders reminded us that they did in fact make it out. Well, _duh_. It didn't make us any less angry, but we let him finish the tale.

"Wow. Demon's can possess things that don't really have a mind?"

"Apparently so. I'm just glad Hawke didn't accept the deal. I wasn't sure I could resist a chance of escaping the Deep Roads, even from a demon. We probably would have had to fight it to get out, anyway. That's it, though. Have you two been up to anything lately?"

"Yeah! Aveline contracted us to help her with an ambush. We kicked ass. Then we stumbled upon a demon's haunt with Fenris and took them out. There was a little possession scare, but it was ended quickly. There's also someone that's been snooping around here lately, but she doesn't pose much of a threat." I summarized, and Anders gaped at me before launching into a lecture.

"You knew it was probably filled with demons beforehand and you _still_ went in?" I nodded. "Are you bloody insane? Demons aren't something to mess around with! At best, they'll kill you. At worst, they'll possess you and use you as a living puppet! If you were possessed, you'd have probably killed _everyone_. And you only had Fenris there with you two? That's three people to take on a whole den of demons and abominations. Were you out of your minds?"

Sierra squeaked next to me and ducked her head, and I just about lost it.

"Excuse me? We _won_. It would have been irresponsible to leave them there to kill innocent people! And in case you didn't notice, _you_ just came back from the Deep Roads! That's not a very wise choice considering the millions upon millions of mindless Darkspawn down there. And guess who also let loose lightning in the middle of the fucking Lowtown market, in broad daylight, with a ton of people around, because they were jealous? It wasn't me, Anders. You risked everything when you did that, you fucking _idiot_. So don't you come back here and lecture us.

"We can handle ourselves. It's time you realized that and stopped treating us like little kids. We are _not_ your children and we do not deserve to be treated as such. We're supposed to be your best friends and we think the world of you, but you act like we're incapable of handling anything, and that hurts."

The silence was so thick after my tirade you could cut it with a knife. I glared at Anders, who averted his gaze and hung his head, seemingly ashamed. I huffed and sat down, good mood definitely spoiled. It went on like this for longer than I expected- me fuming angrily, Sierra drawing in on herself, and Anders wanting to bash his head against a wall. Eventually, he spoke up.

"You're right. I'm so sorry, Sierra, Kayla. I never wanted to hurt you, I know you two are very capable people, and could probably kick _my_ ass if you were so inclined. You mean the world to me and so I try to keep you away from all the bad as best as I can. I'll do my best to stop acting like you can't take care of yourselves and lecturing you."

I waited a beat, looking over to Sierra for confirmation before nodding. She turned her head to Anders, smiling, before raising her hand and declaring "Forgiven."


	17. Chapter 17

The next day, I was awoken by a very frantic pounding on the door. It only woke me, however- Sierra and Anders were still sleeping peacefully. I sighed and went over to the door as quickly as I could, opening it to reveal Garrett, looking more than a little dazed.

"Garrett! What's the matter? Are you hurt?" I asked as I led him in and sat him down, mindful to keep my voice down somewhat. He shook his head before taking a few deep breaths.

"I need to talk with you. You're the only one I know will really understand how I feel, and I guess the only one who could give advice on what to do."

"Just tell me, Gary. You're making me nervous." He sucked in a breath.

"Carver joined the Templars."

"... What?" I couldn't have heard him right.

"The Templars. My brother joined them. Just as I got home, he was in his full plate and mother was begging him not to go. He gave me some lame excuses about how this wasn't about me and then left." Well, then. I crossed over to Garrett and gave him the strongest hug I could muster, before pulling back and thinking.

"I know you must feel betrayed. I kind of do, too, but I'm not sure that's what he was intending. He may be a jerk, but I've hung around him enough to know he's a decent sort under all his anger. He tried so hard to make something of himself. Perhaps separating himself from you, out of your shadow, will give him that opportunity."

"He said that, you know. About my shadow. I never wanted him to feel like I thought I was better than him. I'm just trying to provide for my family in the only way I know how." I sighed and pulled him closer to me, somewhat forcing him to cuddle.

"I know. And deep down, he knows that too. A bird's got to leave the nest one day, after all. I think, for now, you shouldn't contact him. You'd probably get angry and that wouldn't go well." He nodded into the crook of my shoulder, where his head was currently residing. "I think you should let a month pass. Write him a letter and tell him what you feel- you love him and always will. Might be a little mushy, but it's important. I guess if he responds favorably, or at least not as grumpy as usual, you and your mother should go visit him. I know the Gallows isn't a very fun place, but I'll even go with you, if you want."

"Good plan. Thanks, Kayla. I do feel better."

"Well, I'm amazing, so that's a given." He laughed and brought himself out of my embrace, smiling at me and patting my head to placate me. "Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night." I smacked his hand away and laughed along with him, though a question tugged at my mind.

"Why'd you come to me, though? I know you said I was the only one you knew would understand, so why is that?" He thought on it a bit, looking adorable as he scratched his beard. I was a bit surprised how it didn't bother me in our little hug-fest, but that's really not the point here.

"I think non-mages wouldn't really understand the depth of betrayal I feel. That leaves three. Merrill would probably cry and feel like she wasn't good enough for him and that certainly wouldn't do any good. Anders would get extremely angry and I don't want Justice going on a rampage. Then, there's you. You're quick to anger but you also think things through and tend to hope for the best side of people. You're pretty much a mirror image of me, personality wise."

"I'm glad you added that personality part. As good as yours is, Gary, I don't want a beard."

Garrett decided to hang around the rest of the day, surprising Anders and Sierra when they woke up. I was excited, for now I had somebody else to tease them with and since it was still a slow period, we had pretty much all the time in the world. I sent him to accost Sierra as she made poultices, while I came up to Anders after he helped someone with a dislocated shoulder.

"Soooooooo." He turned to look at me, one eye brow raised suspiciously.

"Yes?"

"Anders."

"Kayla."

"What are your plans regarding my Sierra?" He looked a little surprised, but I crossed my arms and waited for his answer.

"Will you ever stop butting your nose into our business?"

"No. I even have backup now. Gary and I are a team."

"Oh, Maker..." He groaned, pressing a hand to his forehead. "In any case, Kayla, don't worry about it. When I was at the Circle, I was the suave guy. I've still got it."

"Riiiiiiiiiight. How many years ago was this?"

"... Around ten." Oh, this was going to be fun to watch.

"Very well. Good luck, Mr. Suave Guy."

It wasn't until I was bidding Garrett farewell that I saw Anders try to sneak by me over to Sierra. I quickly stopped talking and motioned for Gary to do the same so we could look. We grinned fiercely at each other, preparing to enjoy this show at its greatest. Anders approached Sierra with a slight swagger in his step and I could tell this was going to be terribly entertaining.

"That's a nice shirt. Can I talk you out of it?" Garrett had to slap a hand over my mouth to keep me from laughing my ass off. Oh, Anders, you crazy fool.

"... What?" Was Sierra's only response. She looked at him like he had grown another head.

"I mean, I love my bed, but I'd rather be in yours." Holy Maker. Were the girls of the Circle so easily bedded that one sexual line would get them to dally with him? Anders really did need my help.

"Anders, did Kay dare you to do this? Or maybe she hexed you. I heard her talk about that once. And she loves those kinds of pick up lines." I did not! Well, okay. Maybe a little. In any case, I decided to jump in before his chances with her were completely squandered with his inability to flirt with someone like Sierra.

"Anders! I need your help with something, could you come here real quick?" I called over to them and Anders practically raced over. Poor thing.

"That... that went terrible, man."

"Trust me, Hawke, I know. Ugh. What did you need help with?" I shrugged.

"I had to save you somehow. First thing to hop into my mind. And you need my help anyway. Sierra isn't going to fall for those lines; they aren't from the you she actually likes. And they sound too much like me. She was right when she said that I liked that stuff."

"Why do I get the feeling that, if you two had met in the Circle, you'd be a match made in heaven?" Gary chimed in. I snorted, but I had to admit that he was probably right. Thankfully, such a thing did not happen. Thedas was not prepared for that.

"Please, I'd rather not think about that. Just help me please?" I sighed and rolled my eyes before turning to Garrett.

"Go and make sure she's not snooping and keep her busy, okay?" He nodded and went off. I looked back to Anders.

"Really, all you need to be is yourself. She likes you. If you just tell her how you feel, I'm sure she'll appreciate it. The Anders that could charm a woman into bed with just a smile? That's not you anymore. You don't want to be that guy anymore. He didn't care about anyone but himself. But the Anders you are now does. He cares deeply. He's sincere and kind and true. That is why she likes you." Anders expression was aghast and he nearly took a step back in surprise. That was a good sign, right?

"Ah, wow. Thanks. Sometimes it's not hard to believe you're some kind of all-knowing being."

"I am magnificent, I know."


	18. Chapter 18

"Oh, you _whore!_" I cried as I lost yet again in another game of Wicked Grace. Isabela and Varric were in the lead, as they always were. Because they were cheaty-mc-cheatersons. But of course, none of us could ever catch them in the act. Isabela once said that the only person to ever catch her was the Hero of Ferelden. If saving all of Thedas from the Blight wasn't enough, that alone would have impressed me.

In any case, I was out. Sierra patted me on the shoulder consolingly, but I just glared. She was still in, and doing far better than I ever had, I might add. Anders had lost first, Merrill following. Then, of course, me. Everyone else was still in, including the newest addition to our merry band of misfits- Sebastian Vael, Prince of Starkhaven. I had pretty much freaked out when I found out that I had winked at a Prince, touched that Prince, and even became _friends_ with that Prince. He had hinted at having a very adventurous youth, which was easy to believe at how well he was doing.

Pouting, I left the table in a huff to get a drink. I didn't drink much, but it was still fun. Sometimes I even got in a couple extra if Anders was distracted. While he was doing much better on the not treating us like children front, he was still a wee bit over protective. I didn't mind so much- it was sweet.

Corff slid me a new shot, which I downed easily. I was about to signal for another when a man to my side grabbed my hand, rather unexpectedly. I tried to tug it away, but he was surprisingly strong for a guy dressed in the frilly clothes of Hightown. After kissing my hand, he lifted my hand back up, examining my forearm creepily as the cloth of my sleeve slid down.

"Ah, hello, Madam. My name is Gascard. Might I know the pleasure of your lovely name?"

"You might if you let go of my hand, Gascard." I ground out and he released me with an annoying laugh. Righting myself, I quickly received another drink so I could somehow deal with this guy.

"Pardon me for saying so, but you have the most exquisite arms I have ever seen! So elegant and smooth." Okay, he just went about ten notches up on the creep-o-meter. I had to think of something quick. I laughed it off awkwardly, scanning the room quickly for anything that could help. Somehow, I was drawn to the snowy white cap of hair in the corner, drinking his usual Aggregio while watching the others play. He must have folded or something, which was perfect.

"I'm so sorry to cut this short, Gascard, but I simply must go. My lover really isn't he patient sort and he can get rather aggressive. Bye!" With that I dashed over to Fenris, plopping down close to him, causing him to startle and set his bottle down.

"Hey so ,um, there's this guy at the bar who is creeping me the fuck out right now so if you could be really intimidating while also acting like I'm the best thing that ever happened to Thedas and you're wildly in love with me, that would be great. Thanks." He looked at me like I was insane, but as he saw how completely serious and freaked out I was, he sighed and relented.

"Very well. Just don't expect me to share my wine."

"But _Fen-fen-_"

"I will rip your heart out if you call me that again, deal or not."

"Party pooper. Can I just..." I scooted a bit closer to him, brushing against his side. His markings lit up in response and I gasped, quickly backing away and murmuring my apologies. He breathed in deeply as the glow subsided and I immediately felt terrible. My magic must have hurt him. I put my head in my hands.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I wish I could stop that."

"It doesn't hurt when you touch me. It's... all right." I looked up at him. While I didn't think he was the sort of person to lie to make somebody feel better, I wanted to make sure. He didn't look to be in pain. He almost looked delighted. Well, as delighted as Fenris _could_ get. I got up closer to him again and while his markings still lit briefly, neither of us flinched away.

"So... did it never hurt when anyone touched you, or is this new?"

"No one usually touches me, but if they do, it hurts. I've gotten used to it. However, your touch does not affect me in a negative way, strangely enough." I could see why he would be happy about that, then. I wondered if there was always a dull pain and he had simply lived with it so long he didn't really notice it anymore.

"May I, um..." I wriggled my fingers at him, not really knowing what to say, but insanely curious. He stared at me for a second before removing his gauntlet and letting me have at it. I may have squealed a bit, but I was gentle as I could be as I took his hand in mine.

I pressed our hands together, noticing how slender his was, but strong. His hand was much larger than mine and I smiled at that. My hands dwarfed Sierra's or Merrill's. Perhaps the daintiness was just a trait of female elves? In any case, there was more to him than his hands. I pulled him a bit to rest his arm somewhat in my lap so I could use both hands to lightly run up and down his arm, reveling in the slight rise his markings created in his skin. I chanced a look up at his face- he was staring at me intensely, his eyes containing some sort of emotion I couldn't define.

"Hey, lovebirds, watcha doing?" Gary shouted from behind me, startling me enough to screech and flail about, nearly falling out of my seat before Fenris reacted and quickly caught me. Huffing, I turned around to glare at my offender.

"Gary, you son of a rotten nug. Don't frighten me like that!"

"Not my fault you were caught up in a little lover's tangle that you didn't hear me come up behind you." I blushed as he grinned at me, putting all my effort into not looking at Fenris, though I was dying to know his reaction.

"I hate you, Gary. What did you want, anyway?"

"Well, it became very quiet and I realized that was because you weren't next to me blabbering away. Then I saw you over here, silent as can be. I had to make sure you weren't ill."

"I _really_ hate you. That's it. Everyone's calling you Gary now. No Garrett, no Hawke. Only Gary." I said indignantly. Garrett merely rolled his eyes before motioning behind him.

"I was also sent over as a spy for Anders. However, I love you more than him, so I decided to come clean."

"Oh, really? Why, that sucker thinks he'll get payback on me! He has another thing coming, then. Gary, what contingency plans have we readied?"

"None, oh wise one. You insisted he would never do something so underhanded as spy on you. Guess you were wrong." He told me with a roll of his eyes. My expression turned rather sour, glaring at him and at Anders' back.

"Okay. Report back to him, giving a ridiculous story. I don't care what it is- it could be that Fenris and I were doing the horizontal tango for all I care. Just get him to look back at us. And when he does. I'll be waiting. Watching. Ever vigilant, ever prepared."

"Sometimes I think you take this way too seriously, but then it's just fantastic. Very well, Commander." He marched off and while waiting for Anders to look, I reached behind me and grabbed Fenris's hand in mind to assure him that I wasn't so absorbed in my evil doings that I had forgotten about him. He merely exhaled and I grinned as I my excitement grew.

Oh and there it was! Garrett must have said something really good, 'cause Anders spun around so quick I thought he might hurt his neck. Once I was sure he was safe, I let my smile grow a little feral and dangerous to let him know I wasn't about to be played with. If he wanted to go low, I wasn't afraid to fight fire with fire. Anders actually _pouted_ once he realized what was going on and turned back to Sierra glumly. I think she patted him on the shoulder to console him.

"And that," I started as I turned back to Fenris, "was the first battle won."

"You are... not right in the head. I hope you know that."

"Oh, I do. It's what makes me so great." He shrugged and granted me one of his very rare smiles.

"I won't disagree."


	19. Chapter 19

The next day offered the perfect chance for Sierra and Anders to actually go out on a date. It was a slow day, the weather was nice, and Garrett was going to come over anyway (we were most likely going to plot attacks against Anders, but he didn't need to know that). Isabela was also going to stop by and pick me up to go shopping, but that was later in the day.

Operation: Get those lovebirds out is a _go_.

"Wow, look at that light shining in. Must be a spectacular day outside. What do you think, Sierra?" I started.

"It does look nice. It feels like I haven't seen the sun in ages." Fantastic.

"Why don't you go out then? I can hold down the fort if you and Anders want to take a day. Garrett will be by later, too." Anders glanced over at me suspiciously, as it was very clear that I wanted them to go out, but since he pretty much wanted the same thing, he shrugged.

"I'm up for it if you are, love." Oooo. Smart guy, using terms of endearment. If Sierra was going to say no, she sure wasn't going to now, judging by the blush on her face. She nodded her agreement and then they were off, hand in hand. And I was grinning from ear to ear. Gary came over shortly afterward, keeping me company when no one needed me, and helping apply poultices when I was.

"Gary, don't you know how to heal?" I asked, and he looked sad.

"I could never pick it up fairly well and Bethany was so much better at it... So I didn't really care all that much to learn. I figured she'd always be there to heal us. Guess I was wrong." Oh. Bethany. He rarely talked about her, but one night he got drunk enough to tell me what actually happened; as they were fleeing the Blight, poor Bethany got killed protecting their mother. Ever since then, Gary would sometimes tell me all the little things she liked to do. She made me think of Sunshine.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right."

It was fairly silent and somewhat awkward after that, and I struggled for something to say to take his mind off of it. It took a bit, but I finally got something.

"Hey, what did you tell Anders to get him to whirl around so fast?"

"Nothing, actually. I was just like 'oh man, you won't believe this... like you really won't... man you just gotta look for yourself...' and acted somewhat awe-struck and he spun around as quick as you please." He snorted a little at the memory, and I laughed.

"Very good. I loved his pout afterward. Fantastic."

"Indeed. Though, I _am_ still curious as to what you were doing with Fenris. If I so much as offer to help him up if he falls down in battle, he acts like a cornered wolf. But you were like all over him! And he didn't pull your heart out or bash your head in. You must be something special."

"Well, he told me that it hurt when people touched him, but..." I blushed some. "Not when I touched him, strangely enough. I don't know if he wanted me to keep shut about that, so don't let on like you know." Garrett nodded sagely, but I could tell he wanted to gossip. I knew I could trust him, however.

We moved on, trading jokes and insults with each other like usual, though we did have the decency to quiet down if someone came in needing something. I almost expected our little spy to come in and get a read on Garrett, but alas, she did not. Isabela, however, came by far earlier than I thought she would.

"Oh, good, you're both here. I've got a lead on the relic! Let's go!"

"'Bela, wait! What?" She sighed and turned back around, pouting.

"My relic, kitten. The one I lost and will get Castion off my back if I find it? And that he'll kill me if I don't?"

"Oh. _That_ relic."

"One and the same."

Garrett and I were fine to go, but two mages and a rogue wasn't the most efficient party. He noticed this, and we really only had two choices- Aveline or Fenris. Fenris was most likely free, whereas Aveline was always busy. It was an easy decision. Plus, I think Garrett wanted to pry a bit. I couldn't blame him.

I knocked obnoxiously on the dilapidated mansion door, calling out his name in an annoying sing-song voice. Garrett and Isabela laughed as we heard a grunt come from the open window on the second floor. I merely readied my smile for when he opened the door, very disgruntled.

"What do you need now, woman?" He glanced around me to see Garrett and Isabela grinning alongside me, and pressed his hand to his face and sighed before coming out and shutting the door behind him, greatsword already strapped to his back. I wondered if he ever let it more than two feet from him. Or if he slept in his armor.

"Who are we killing today?"

"Probably some other pirates and men of Castion. Isabela got a lead on her relic, over on the Coast. We couldn't resist bringing you along for the ride- what if we happened across some slavers? You'd be mad at me if I didn't take you." Garrett told him merrily and Fenris groaned.

"I have a feeling I will be incessantly bothered on the trip. The three of you are a hive mind, I can tell."

"Fenris, I'm hurt. How could you think so low of us?"

"But it's true, kitten." Isabela laughed and put an arm around my shoulder, winking at me before turning back over to Fenris and smiling evilly. She must have thought of something good, and I couldn't wait to hear it.

"Tell you what, Broody, if you don't want us all badgering you, how about we do a group up? That way you'll only be annoyed by one of us, while the other two are grouped together and can only bother each other unless it's really important. If you can't choose, I'll pick for you."

"You are all terrible people. I hope you know that."

"Kayla it is then! Wise choice, wise choice." Isabela pushed me toward him rather harshly, causing me to stumble. Fenris quickly caught and righted me, further confirming just how brilliant Isabela was. She had it all figured out, and I could only hope it would go according to plan. _And_ that left Garrett with Isabela completely to himself. If he had a thing for her, like I thought he did, it would allow him to get a start on it.

Or they could gossip about me. That was highly likely.

Isabela linked arms with one of my favorite apostates, batting her eyelashes at him and posing herself just enough that her bosom brushed against him often when they walked. Fenris and I trailed behind and I kept myself quiet, for his sake. Though I also wanted to try and snoop on the couple in front of me, but that's hardly the point. Really.

It wasn't until we were officially out of Kirkwall that Fenris seemed surprise at my silence. I could feel him looking at me, causing me to smile. He seemed to realize something then, inhaling sharply.

"Reverse psychology, I see."

"Hmmm?" I hummed, finally turning to look at him, trying to look as innocent as possible. Which wasn't easy, let me tell you.

"You want to make me talk by not talking." I shrugged. He may not want to believe it, but he was falling for my plan already, even if he had caught on. Which made it all the better. I looked back ahead, catching Garrett kiss Isabela's hand while they walked, causing her to laugh. I sighed happily.

"Are you matchmaking? You should not pry into other people's business."

"I didn't pick the groups, Fenris. Isabela did that all on her own. I'm merely enjoying their happiness. Can't I be glad for a friend?" I tried to sound a little hurt, though the smile on my face told him I clearly wasn't. He still looked wary, however.

"No. You're happy because you're plotting other situations you can get them together."

"Maybe. Would that be so bad? I mean, I pretty much got Sierra and Anders together, and they're happy as a clam. They even went out on a date today. It was fantastic."

"Happy as a... what?"

"A clam. Have you never heard that phrase before?" He shook his head, looking at me like I was insane. I probably was- most of the phrases Sierra and I made had never been heard here, and confused pretty much everyone. It didn't keep us from saying them, though.

"Oh well. It's one of my favorites."

"Where is it from?" I frowned, thinking on it. I had never actually told anyone but Anders the circumstances of mine and Sierra's background- and I really didn't want to. Anyone else would think us insane liars, but Anders had witnessed our sincere confusion and devastation. Thankfully everyone just assumed we came with Anders from Ferelden, which was true enough.

"I don't rightly know. I always forget that we don't really come from the same place, like, at all. At least I don't think." His brow furrowed rather adorably, but the subject of our conversation had me sighing sadly.

"Sierra and I don't really remember what happened before we were on a boat to come here. Anders thinks we may have had a traumatic experience and were both blocking it out so much that nothing would come back from before. I guess our phrases and possibly our outlook on things is what seeps through the cracks." I ducked my head and blushed at the bewildered look on his face. But you can imagine my surprise as I felt him pat me on the back consolingly.

"We are not so different after all, then."


	20. Chapter 20

Fenris's unexpected camaraderie had me at a loss for words, so I kind of just squeaked and nodded, blushing madly. He laughed and drew his hand back, giving me a little room to collect myself. I looked up as a whistling sound echoed through the air and I found myself with an arrow embedded in my shoulder from behind.

"Son of a bitch. Ambush!" I cried, ignoring the arrow for now. It didn't seem to be poisoned and aside from hurting like a bitch and bleeding a bit, it was fine. I didn't move that arm, casting from one hand only, which felt a little weird. I worried that my spells wouldn't be nearly as potent, but thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case. I froze an assailant sneaking up on Garrett and Isabela had the pleasure of kicking him to pieces. The rest of the opposition was quickly mowed down and I sat on a nearby rock, trying to reach for the arrow to take it out after seeing that no one else was hurt.

"Healer, heal thy self?" said Garrett, coming up next to me.

"I would, but I can't get this damn thing out. Can't reach. Care to help?" He nodded, moving behind me, but Fenris beat him to it. Glowing blue, he somehow plucked the arrow right from inside me. I gasped as his hand left me; it felt so... weird. It didn't hurt a bit, and I quickly healed the wound right after, but I was more than a little dazed.

"Ungh... Thanks." I huffed out, putting my hand to my head as I tried to stand up. Fenris brought me up the rest of the way, but his touch burned. Not in a bad way, it felt rather pleasant to tell the truth, but it still surprised me enough to have me gasping. He quickly released me.

"What in the goddamn hell..." I muttered, but all the weird feelings suddenly vanished and I felt fantastic. Better than my usual fantastic, even. I grinned brilliantly at my clearly confused friends, almost tempted to whistle.

"Wow! It was kind of weird at first, but that was awesome." I then started giggling.

"Uh, Fenris... I think your lyrium made her high. Pure lyrium can do that to mages if they come in contact with it." Garrett informed meekly and Fenris groaned before pressing a hand to his head. Isabela laughed and came over to join me as I giggled, patting me on the shoulder. Suddenly, a wave of magic hit me, and I felt so... normal.

"I was having fun, Gary. Did you _have_ to heal me?"

"Yes. In case you forgot, we were just ambushed and have things to do. And I'm not sure the world is ready for you to be high."

"Good point. I'm really hungry now, though. In any case, do any of these guys look familiar, Izzy?"

"No, kitten. Probably some bandits under the impression that we were easily beaten. Good fun, though. Feels like ages since I got to use my daggers." With that, we were back on track, though Fenris seemed rather closed off and wouldn't even look at me. I sighed. And it had been going so well.

"I... apologize. I should have taken into consideration what would happen." Well, I hadn't been expecting _that_.

"What? You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm grateful for you- it would have hurt quite a lot for Garrett to take it out. It could have been made worse and the after affects were fun." He still wouldn't look at me and I didn't dare try to touch him. Still, it was better than I had expected the outcome to be.

We made it to where Isabela's lead went- a dingy cave on the Coast. It smelled. Badly. Fenris took it the worst, though. I guess all the elven senses were better than human's. Poor thing. The cave was small and rather empty aside from some mushrooms and a dusty chest at the far end of the room. Isabela raced toward it, quickly flinging it open, only to groan in disappointment.

"... A boot?"

"A boot. You lead us to a boot. And it's not even a nice boot. Who gave you this lead?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips, annoyed. Isabela huffed and crossed her arms.

"I have my sources. Just keep looking around, perhaps there's a secret corridor? The relic's worth enough to hide." There was a collective sigh as Garrett summoned a spell wisp to light the cave up and we each went to another corner to begin our search. I shrieked as I saw a pair of eyes looking back at me, expecting a giant spider or rat, but all that came was a small whimper. I immediately removed what was blocking me from it, surprised to see a little mabari pup hiding amongst the filth.

"Oh, hello there. What are you doing here?" I asked it. Mabari were smart, though I'm not sure how I expected it to answer. The poor dear merely whimpered and shifted so I could see her side, which was badly hurt and dripping with blood. I gasped and healed her quickly, cradling her in my arms as she fell into a relieved sleep. I looked around to see if I could find the mother, and my search led me to a mabari in the corner, dead.

"Oh, Garrett!" I cried, tears stinging my eyes as I looked away. He came over quickly, sighing sadly at my discovery.

"I found her pup and healed it. Can we please look around and see if there are any more? And give her a proper burial. She doesn't deserve to be left like this."

"Of course. Fenris, Isabela, keep an eye out for any mabari pups! Kayla found one alive, but the mother's dead." Their agreement echoed a bit, making me feel a bit better. I kept the pup in one hand (she was so tiny!) while helping Garrett bring the mother out of the cave and dig a hole large enough to bury her in. Once it was done, Fenris and Isabela came out as they could find no signs of any other puppies, we stood around her grave, wondering what to say. Garrett spoke first and we bowed are heads as he began to pray.

"Draw your last breath, my friends, Cross the Veil and the Fade and all the stars in the sky. Rest at the Maker's right hand and be Forgiven.

"So let it be." We echoed the words and bid her one last farewell. Her pup was still asleep in my arms and I wasn't going to let anything harm her. Bela came over to see her, cooing how adorable she was and patted me on the shoulder before thanking us all for coming with her, even if it was a bust. The walk home was quiet, but as I entered the clinic with a still sleeping puppy, Sierra squealed.

"You got a puppy? Let me see! Oh, it's so cute! Have you picked a name? Where'd you get it?" I laughed at how excited she was and the puppy woke up, barking happily at her. Anders came over then, giving me a look.

"While I don't mind if you two keep her, just know that I'm not going to be the one taking care of her." Then he was off. Sierra and I rolled our eyes, it was well known how much of a cat lover he was. I had nothing against cats, of course, but Anders couldn't seem to get enough of them.

"I found her out with the gang. I don't know what happened to them, but her mother was dead before I could even try to help." Sierra gasped and I nodded angrily. "Thankfully I found her and healed her, and now she's with me. I haven't thought of a name. But how did you date go?" Sierra grinned like a fool.

"Wonderful, really. We didn't really know what to do at first, so we just kind of wandered around the markets. Then, I spotted this-" she pointed to the dazzling necklace she was sporting and I gasped. "I'm surprised you didn't notice it sooner. Anyway, I squealed and he got it for me when my back was turned. He wouldn't even tell me how much it was. The rest of the date took off from there. It was really lovely."

"Oh! He has definitely done well. I'm so happy for you!"

"Of course you are. You're the one always pushing us together, after all."

"Out of love. And look how happy you two are! You should be buying _me_ necklaces."

"In your dreams, Kay."


	21. Chapter 21

"What about Ser-Barks-A-Lot?" Sierra and I turned to regard Anders with disdain. We were _so_ not putting him in charge of naming anything. We then turned back to the puppy currently playing with a torn up shoe, courtesy of me. I didn't have much a choice- she had already destroyed it by the time I realized what she was doing.

"Barkspawn?"

"Kay, that's even worse. For all your evil planning, you're nearly as bad as Anders in cleverness. At least in naming things." The nerve!

"Well I don't see _you_ coming up with anything!"

"Rose?" She suggested. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel right. I shook my head and we shared a collective sigh, almost about to give up, when it hit me.

"Fifi!" The pup looked up at that, barked and trotted over to lick my hand. I smiled smugly at my comrades. Anders groaned.

"That's the worst of them all! Where in the world did you get that? It's so... Orlesian." Before I could defend my choice, Sierra jumped in.

"It _clicks_." She emphasized, causing Anders to go 'ooohhhh'. "And besides, she seems to like it rather well. It's the only one she's responded to."

"Yay! Fifi it is!" I grinned down at the newly named dog, and she wagged her stubby little tail in excitement. I had to wonder why I liked the name so much and how Sierra also knew it clicked into place me. I guess it did for her, too. I shrugged it off, however, happily playing with my new puppy.

A couple of weeks later brought in and influx of people with the flu and Cain. Or whoever she was. Fifi had already grown large enough to be imposing, surprising the elf a bit before she came up to me.

"Good to see you, Cain. How have you been?" I asked politely, wondering what she was up to today.

"I found myself with some free time on my hands and wondered if I could pitch in again."

"Sure. Go over to Sierra. Our friend Garrett will be over shortly- it's flu season and while it's an easy fix, there are a ton of people. He'll be in to lighten the load." I told her.

"Garrett?" Her tone told me she had a good idea of who I was talking about, but wanted confirmation. I snorted.

"Garrett Hawke. He and his mother were recently granted the Amell estate back. I'm sure you've heard of him, though. I can't go anywhere without hearing Hawke this, or Hawke that." She laughed and nodded, off to Sierra. I leaned down to Fifi, who was ever present at my side and whispered conspiratorially in her ear.

"Keep an eye on her, will you? But don't be obvious about it. Can't have her catching on, now can we?" She barked her agreement and got to her task eagerly.

The day went on quickly and Garrett poked some fun at our spy by giving her a little shock whenever he was near her. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Like, really? Was _I_ that mischievous? It didn't actually bother me, but it was distracting to hear him cackle evilly without me. Meanie pants. In any case, we all fared well.

"What do you think, Gary?"

"She's cute."

"That's really not what I meant."

"I know. But what do you want me to say? She's obviously snooping, she couldn't stop asking me questions about me and you lot. But she doesn't seem like a threat. Which you've deduced yourself and just want confirmation from the all-mighty Hawke." He boasted with a slight upturn to his chin, trying to give me a winning smile.

"Sure, Gary. Sure."


	22. Chapter 22

It was months before anything actually exciting happened again. Sad, I know. But I just got so busy! The slow period had ended and we were back to the same overwhelming amount of people almost near death. We all worked pretty much seamlessly together- it only got a bit odd if Cain made an appearance. She didn't often, but Fifi always knew to watch her. Such a good girl.

However, on one such a night she was there, I discovered a note addressed to me after closing.

_Kayla,_

_Bring Sierra and Hawke to meet me at the Hightown Markets tonight. If you must, bring just one other. Please, I need your help._

_-Cain_

"Ummm, guys! Cain seems to finally have made her move. We need to go get Garrett." Anders and Sierra came over, reading the note. Nodding, Anders handed it back.

"You two go. Someone needs to stay here, after all. I have a feeling this is going to take a while. Besides, she didn't ask for me and you could use someone who fights up close." I was surprised at how well Anders seemed to be taking this, but as I didn't want to chance my luck, I merely nodded. Sierra went to fetch her new and shiny bow (did I forget to mention that Anders had also gotten her a bow? 'Cause he did. And it was grand. Even nicer than Sebastian's.) and then we were off. I decided to leave Fifi with Anders- I didn't want him to be completely alone.

We took the quickest route to the mansion, knocking on the door eagerly. Garrett's servant, a dwarf named Bodahn, opened the door and let us in quickly, telling us that 'Messere Hawke' was in the library. I kind of wanted to make a joke about Garrett reading anything, but it wasn't the time. Without greeting him, I hung the note in front of his face.

"Hello to you too, dear."

"Come on, Gary. Let's go. This is going to be awesome, I just know it."

"Fine. Just let me get ready."

Once he was all set, we went to fetch Fenris. I was a little nervous- it felt like we had ended on a bad note the last time I'd seen him, but aside from being grumpy about the late hour, nothing felt out of the ordinary with him.

We approached the markets cautiously and I was rather shocked to find Cain leaning against a wall, twirling a dagger and looking fucking _awesome_ in her spiffy green armor. Like it was fantastic and cute and I was jealous. She stopped twirling her daggers and smiled at us, not seeming like herself at all.

"Ah, I had a feeling you'd come. Good to see you."

"Mind telling us what this is all about, Cain? You've been spying on us for almost a year now." I cut in, and she turned to look at me.

"About that... My name's not actually Cain. You can call me Tallis." She performed some kind of weird bow, popping back up rather cheerily.

"I do need your help, though. I believe you've recently received an invitation to a Chateau for an extravagant hunting party, correct, Hawke?"

"I was just about to decline that, thank you very much. Prosper really doesn't seem like a fun guy to be around."

"You're right, but I was hoping you might reconsider that. You see, I need to relieve him of something he has _no_ right to possess." She sounded angry. "The problem is, I can't do it alone. That's where you come in. You get things done. And it'll be far easier to infiltrate if you have an invitation." Hawke turned around to look at us, obviously perplexed as to what to do. I shrugged.

"Well, stealing from Orlesians is never _wrong_... Or so I hear, at least." I said. Sierra and Garrett murmured their agreement, while Fenris remained silent.

"What is it you want us to steal?"

"A jewel. It's valuable, but not in the way he believes, and it most certainly doesn't belong to him." She put on her best pleading face. "Come with me to Chateau Haine. At the very least, you'll get fine wine and fancy company. But I'm hoping you'll want more than that." She walked a bit away, giving us some privacy, but I figured she could still hear us perfectly well.

"We'd be gone for a while. It's not in Orlais, but it is a trip into the mountains. Very secluded. Are you guys up for it?" I glanced to Sierra, who seemed the most conflicted. She didn't want to leave Anders, but she wanted to go on an adventure. I nodded my head and she followed. That left Fenris.

"If I don't get good wine there, I'm leaving."

Well, that settled that. We agreed to meet Tallis back here in the morning with what we needed- Garrett told us to just pack some clothes and that he'd take care of the rest. Sierra and I would have to convince Anders to let us go, but if she pouted enough he'd agree.

"No. Absolutely not! You know nothing about this Tallis. She could be leading you into a trap! And even if she _is_ telling the truth, you're going to go steal something from an Orlesian Duke. In a fortress. With hundreds of guards. I don't like those odds one bit."

"Anders, it's an infiltration thing. We shouldn't have to fight anyone. And even if we do, we can handle ourselves. Don't act like you wouldn't go in our place."

"Please, Anders?" Sierra had widened her eyes and pouted, which was all she really needed to do. Anders' resolve crumbled and as a reward, Sierra gave him a kiss so mushy I had to look away and go 'ewww.' Then she stuck her tongue out at me. Ah, best friends til the end.

I bid a tearful goodbye to Fifi. As much as I wanted to bring her with me, I knew it wasn't a good idea. She was still a puppy and she would be better off if she stayed with Anders. It still didn't make me feel any better as she whined and pawed at the ground as I left. I had to blink a few tears away.

We reached the market before the hustle and bustle of the day, where Garrett and Fenris were already waiting. When he said he was prepared, I thought he just meant food and money, possibly tents. But as we approached, he grinned and proudly boasted that he had bought a wagon, a horse, food and enough tents for us to each have our own. _And_ he bought us new clothes- wewere going to an Orlesian party, after all, and had to at least look noble.

I squealed and ran up to him, kissing his cheek.

"Oh, the perks of having a rich best friend."

"That's not even the best part." He stated mysteriously, causing me to narrow my eyes at him. He merely directed me to a market stall, stocked with beautiful staffs, far more extravagant than I could ever dream. I gasped and look at him with absolute surprise.

"Are you... buying me a staff?"

"Yep."

"Oh, Maker! Gary, I could marry you right now. I never thought I'd actually get one! Oh, which one? They're all so gorgeous!" He laughed and let me have at it. I ended up settling on one that was fairly simple looking, but marvelous enchantments that I could feel as it got near me. Picking it up, I did a little jig before kissing Garrett square on the mouth. He blushed and scratched his head, embarrassed.

"A thank you would have been enough. Yeesh."

"Thanks, Gary."

We walked back over to the rest of our party, which now contained Tallis. Sierra looked impressed when I showed the staff to her, but Fenris' reaction was not what I was expecting. His eyes widened a bit, took a step back from me before clearing his throat, then started walking to where we were leaving from. I gave Garrett a confused look, but he shrugged. I decided to ask him about it later.

Later didn't come until we made camp for the night, in which Fenris set up his tent nearly as far away from mine as possible, closer to Garrett's. I confronted him while the others were sitting around the campfire, while he was just leaving his tent.

"Okay, what's the deal?" He didn't even look at me, but began to walk away. Without thinking, I grasped his arm in an attempt to turn him around. He lit and threw me onto the ground with his body, glaring at me with some emotion in his eyes that I couldn't decipher. Growling at him, I attempted to flip us over. But he was unmovable.

"What in the goddamn hell are you doing, asshole? Don't treat me like this without even telling me what I did wrong! Get off of me!" I grunted, still struggling. He seemed to snap back a little, and separated from me quickly without helping me up.

"The staff you have. It is a staff of a Magister Lord, of the Imperium." I stayed on the ground where I was, thinking over this new information.

"If it really bothers you, I can get a different one. I didn't mean to upset you. It was the most powerful of the bunch, but I'm sure there are better."

"There is nothing more powerful than a Magister's staff!" He spat, beginning to pace in a circle. "It's always the same with you mages. Power. You all want it and will stop at nothing to get it! Even if it means consorting with demons, using blood magic!"

"Fenris," I tried, but the sizzling look he gave me silenced me. I sat up instead.

"You would even go so far as to put raw lyrium into a lowly slave's body in the most horrific experiment out there- robbing him of every memory he had before that! He won't be able to remember the smile on his mother's face when she handed him a treat, or that she smelled of lilacs in full bloom. How his sister would laugh as he chased her through the markets, or..." I'm pretty sure my jaw was hitting the floor. He had clearly remembered _something_ in all his rage, and as he sunk to his knees in realization, I had no idea what in the fuck to do. Maker help me.

I slowly crawled over to him, carefully taking his hands in mine. He didn't resist, just staring down at them as I locked them with mine. I was fairly certain his yelling had attracted the attention of our group by the campfire, but since it died down, they probably settled for spying from afar.

"Your mother smelled like lilacs?"

"Yes. She did. I remember the smell surrounding me when I hugged her."

"That's a lovely memory." I soothed, gently drawing circles on his hand with my thumbs. I continued to explore the other memories he had mentioned with him and he sounded so vulnerable; like the little child he suddenly remembered being. My heart broke for him. After we sat in silence for a bit, I brought up the staff again.

"If you like, you can break my staff. I don't mind. Just let me tell Gary to get me a new one."

"No. It's all right. I apologize for my outburst. It was... uncalled for. I do not mean to seem ungrateful for all you have done for me." He looked up at me then, firm in his choice. I nodded and we stood up, unlocking our hands. I laughed a bit awkwardly as we made our way over to the others.

"And here I was hoping I'd have to break up a little lover's tangle again." Garrett chimed in once he realized we were fine. I sat down beside him and punched his shoulder, causing him to laugh. Tallis decided to participate in our group dynamic, trading barbs with us like old friends. Every once in a while, I'd catch Fenris' eye and he'd give me a little smile.

All in all, it was a good day.


	23. Chapter 23

I tossed and turned inside my tent, unable to sleep a wink. It felt odd not sleeping pretty much right next to someone. And I was in a bedroll, on the ground. Can't forget that bit. Plus, it was cold. Which sucked a lot. After a few more minutes of tossing, I decided to go poke around the campfire. It was almost my watch, anyway- and I'm sure Tallis wouldn't mind if she ended hers early.

"Can't sleep?" She asked. I merely grunted and plopped close to the dimming fire, hoping for a bit more heat. Tallis laughed and came to sit beside me.

"I'm sorry about deceiving you in Kirkwall, when I first came to see you."

"Don't worry about it. It was kind of obvious, so it didn't really surprise me." I told her. She looked a little embarrassed.

"Still. After seeing how you handled the Crows and even left me a note, I just had to see if you really were what you seemed." I nodded before my mind caught up with me.

"Those were the Antivan Crows? And they were after you? Not really impressive for a supposed legendary group of assassins."

"I know, right? It seems like they always send their B team. Still, I wouldn't have been able to handle them myself. I was a bit surprised to discover that you weren't the great Hawke I'd been hearing about- but his reputed secret lover."

"Wait, what? _Lover_?" I had to laugh. Garrett even came out to ask me what the hell I was doing, but as I told him what she said, he joined me in my hilarity. Maker, _lovers!_ I could kind of understand how she would think that, but still... Me and Garrett? We were like siblings!

"So I'm going to assume you're not, judging by your reactions."

"Not at all. She may want me, deep down, but I've got my sights set on another." I rolled my eyes and slapped Garrett as he sat down next to me, grinning.

"In your dreams." I turned back to Tallis, smiling. "Where'd you hear that we were lovers?"

"In the Hanged Man, of course. There was a dwarf telling stories about you, Hawke. The way he talked about you two made me think you were together." Garrett and I sighed together.

"Varric. Will he never learn?"

"I don't think so, Gary. Still, it was a good laugh."

"It kind of explains why he wasn't very concerned over your conflict with the broody dude. We all heard you cursing at him, which was pretty funny. But it was an interesting situation." I shrugged.

"Meh. Fenris and I have an interesting relationship. Sometimes he doesn't want to rip my heart out, but then I'm my usual silly self and the urge to kill me comes back full force." We shared a laugh over that, though I honestly didn't know what Fenris thought of me. I hoped it was something good. I couldn't really explain it, but I had an odd connection to him. It set me on edge whenever I thought about it, so I usually didn't.

Eventually, both Tallis and Garrett went to their respective tents, leaving me to a rather uneventful second watch. I didn't really mind, it was relaxing and let me think by myself for a bit. With so many people all around me, it was a rare time where I could just sit and simply be. My watch flew by and before I knew it, Sierra was telling me to get some sleep. I sighed and followed orders.

Despite only getting a few hours of sleep, I was rather chipper once I woke up. We all ate a rather quick breakfast, packed up camp, and hit the road. I sat next to Gary as he guided the horse carefully, watching for trouble and keeping him company, while the others sat in the back.

"So, Gary, tell me... Just who do you have your sights set on?"

"Don't act like you don't know, Kay." I huffed angrily.

"Well you could at least give me some kind of confirmation!"

"Isabela. There, happy?" I grinned at him and clapped happily. Oh, I was very happy. Now I could put my matchmaking into full throttle. And it was going to be sweet. Garrett merely shook his head at me, but he smiled all the same.

"Kayyyy!" Sierra called, lifting the flap on the wagon cover.

"What?"

"Can I trade seats with you? Fenris is being grumpy."

"Fenris is always grumpy, dear." She sighed and rolled her eyes at me.

"I know. But still! Please?" I relented, crawling through the flap as she climbed atop the seat. I heard Gary admonish us for not letting him simply stop the horse so we could transition safely, but as the covering flapped behind me, Sierra's reply was cut off. I flopped on the seat next to Fenris, across from Tallis.

"What did you do to annoy Sierra?" I asked without preamble. Tallis snorted a laugh while Fenris scowled at me.

"I did nothing to her. I asked her to stop humming, as it was annoying me. She took offense." I turned to Tallis, unconvinced.

"Did he ask or did he go 'shut up, you daft woman'?"

"The second one, definitely." She told me with a laugh. I turned to Fenris with a face that said 'yeah, suuuuure you asked her.' His scowl deepened before he looked away from me, glaring at the spot above Tallis' head. I simply began chattering away with her, subtly shifting closer to Fenris and caressing his arm. He relaxed somewhat and Tallis was none the wiser.

As we stopped for camp that night, I decided to go bother Sierra as she cooked some stew for us. We hadn't talked nearly enough lately, and I missed her.

"Siewwaaaaa." I whined, lying against a log and throwing a hand over my head dramatically. She ignored me, causing me to pout.

"Sierraaaa. You must speak with me! You can't resist my charm. Please?" I crawled over into her line of sight and made my puppy dog pout face. She laughed and finally acknowledged my presence, causing me to clap.

"Yes, Kay?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to talk with you."

"Hmm. You should show me some magic trick or something! Anders always refuses when I ask him." I rolled my eyes and stood, coating my hands in ice and displaying them to her. She clapped as soon as she stopped stirring and I tried to figure out what else I could do. Lightning was probably good.

Holding my hands about a foot from each other, I let bolts fly from both hands at the other, slowly morphing them into a little lightning ball that I shot at a nearby mountain wall, creating a pretty light show. Sierra gasped and clapped in appreciation, and I bowed, signaling the end of my little show. I didn't want to try fire around so many flammable objects, or earth. I didn't very much like those elements anyway.

"Very cool, Kay. I wish I could do that!"

"It's not that impressive. Your skill with a bow, however, is. How did you get so good? Is it in your blood or something?" She shrugged and we continued the subject of our 'things we use to kill bad people with' until the rest of our crew came over and Sierra served us our dinner. Garrett and Fenris were taking the first two watches of the night, for which I was grateful, as I had suddenly become very tired.

Crawling into my bedroll, I had a nice night of uninterrupted sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

We reached Chateau Haine the next day, in the late afternoon. A small man in a very pompous outfit greeted us, Orlesian accent unmistakable. I resisted the urge to scream. Orlesian nobles were the _worst_. And then he began raving about how exciting this year's hunting party would be, now that the infamous Garrett Hawke, scion of the Amell line, had arrived. He led us to a pretty elven servant waiting by a side door, telling her to lead us to our rooms, as the hunt wasn't until tomorrow.

"Swanky place." I commented, letting out a low whistle as I took in my surroundings. Sierra grunted her agreement. We were led to a common room, with a few doors leading to private guest bedrooms. I rushed to the closest one, leaving Garrett to thank the poor girl, and squealed at the size of my luscious bed. Oh, I could not _wait_ to sleep in that.

"Let's not forget why we're here, everyone."

"Don't be a wet blanket, Tallis. Come on, don't you want to jump on this?" She gave the bed an appraising eye, eventually nodding and smiling.

"It's settled then. Let's all get washed and dressed up for dinner, and then take a tour of the place. Then we will come back here and jump on these beds, and it will be glorious."

I was seated next to Garrett at dinner, my elven friends nowhere in sight. I ventured to ask the Duke where they went, and like all nobles do when they're offended, threw a fit when he told me they were eating in the servant's quarters.

"I do not believe the audacity you have! You invite my fiancé and me here, and don't even consider asking where we want them? They are to be at my side at all times! They're my _personal_ servants! I cannot suffer this injustice much longer." Garrett took up his cue beautifully, patting me on the shoulder as I broke into hysterical tears. And just like that, three more seats were set up right beside me and my other friends were led in.

"Oh, thank you for your kindness, your grace." I said as they were seated, smiling proudly. The Duke seemed relieved, as did all the other nobles at the table, though some regarded me with obvious contempt.

"I did not know you had such an... animated fiancé, Hawke. Or that you had a fiancé at all, for that matter." Began the Duke and I pretended to ignore the choking sound from Sierra beside me.

"She's wonderful, isn't she? As soon as I saw her at one of the Viscount's dinners, I knew I had to have her. She is the light of my life." All the people privy to the obvious lie could barely hold back their laughter. I would remember to pay them back for that later.

"Thank you, love." I batted my eyelashes at him, grinning like mad. It was all I could do not to break into my own bout laughter. Thankfully, the subject was changed to Prosper's son, and his recent... 'accomplishments'. I tuned it out for the most part, glancing curiously at the stare down Tallis seemed to be having with a redhead seated across from her. When the dinner was over, I set about figuring out that odd detail. Walking over to the woman, I introduced myself almost grudgingly as Kayla Hawke.

"Oh, it is good to meet you! I am Leliana." Unlike all the other Orlesians, her accent was positively adorable. I could probably listen to her talk for ages and not get annoyed.

"What brings you here? I don't know if all the guests are partaking in the hunt as we are."

"Oh, I am not here for the hunt, though I suspect that will be wondrous. I was mostly invited as a courtesy to the Chantry. I work very closely with the Divine, and no Orlesian party would be complete without a member of the clergy about." She rolled her eyes and I decided that I could like this chick.

"You don't like these type of shin-digs?"

"I used to, but that seems like so long ago. When you've seen Andraste's ashes before your very eyes and see them work a miracle, such petty squabbles become rather meaningless." I gasped. She really _was_ a Chantry high up, then.

"Wait, _Sister_ Leliana? From Lothering?" exclaimed Garrett. I hadn't even realized he had come up behind me.

"Oh my, Garrett Hawke? Is that really you? Oh, it is so good to see you escaped!" Leliana cried, coming forward to embrace him. I stepped back as the pieces clicked further into place. This was _the_ Leliana that had accompanied the Hero of Ferelden and helped defeat the Blight! And I was _talking_ to her! Whoa.

"It's good to see you too, Sister." He told her as they parted. Playing into the role of being my fiancé a bit more, he came over to wrap his arms around me and keep me close as our conversation continued. She told us a bit of her recent ventures and after Garrett filled her in on ours, I decided to cut to the chase.

"How do you know Tallis?" She seemed taken aback, but quickly shook herself of her surprise.

"I had thought you noticed that. Tallis and I have had brief encounters before, and sadly, I cannot say more. It is official Chantry business." I apologized for my rudeness, but she dismissed it, and we talked a bit more before dismissing ourselves, then joining the others in our quarters.

"_Fiancé?_" cried Sierra as soon as we entered, quickly disolving into laughter. Tallis shook her head, though Fenris was nowhere in sight. I suspected he must have gone into his room to brood alone.

"Well, I had to get you guys back somehow. Making myself important by claiming to be Gary's fiancé seemed like the best bet. And it worked, thank you very much." I plopped down on a vacant couch haphazardly, letting my limbs land wherever they pleased. Sierra still kept laughing and I closed my eyes in response.

"Tallis, where do you want to start?"

"I heard from one of the servants that they had recently moved something important into a vault in the lower levels of the estate. I heard from another that only one of the doors leads to it, and that only one guard has the key. I guess it's a bit of trial and error for us." Garrett sighed.

"Alright. There can't be that many guards that would be trusted with something so important. There's enough of us to create quite a few different distractions, while someone else tries to pickpocket them." He said. He told Fenris to come out then, to make sure he heard the strategy. I kept my eyes closed, but was acutely aware of his presence as he sat on a chair across from me. "Once we do find the key, Tallis and I will be sneaking through the Chateau. I'd like to take Sierra with us in case we need some more fire power, but it's fine if you don't want to come. Sneaking around is suspenseful." I opened my eyes then.

"Hey, why don't you want me or Fenris?"

"You can't sneak around to save your life, and Fenris had a giant greatsword on him at all times. That's not very sneak-like. Besides, I need you to keep the Duke busy while we're gone and you're very good at being annoy- I mean, you're good at capturing someones attention."

"Funny. Ugh, fine."

Our plan was set in motion the following day after the Hunt, which, by the way, was utterly _terrible_. Fighting a wyvern is definitely not fun and I had to heal quite a lot of gashes from its teeth. Thankfully our kill ended the gruesome event and we all met back at the courtyard.

After a few failed attempts at finding the key, we found out that it had actually been given to the Duke's son. I didn't mind so much- the distractions I got to create were fantastic, in my opinion. Tallis cornered the son into a room, hell bent on seducing him. However, she came out shortly after, very frustrated.

"Either he's gay, or he just doesn't like elves. I am very good at seduction!" She huffed, before looking at me. Then I realized everyone was looking at me and I figured out what they had in mind.

"But... I am an engaged woman!"

"All the better. Orlesian men love a scandal, and humiliating Fereldens. Even if he is gay, he probably won't be able to resist that." I couldn't argue the logic and after whining a bit more, I got to work, ignoring Sierra's giggles. My target was sitting alone on a couch, reading a book. I slithered in next to him, walking my fingers up his arm and to his neck before gently turning his head to face me. Smiling seductively, I knew I had this guy in my hands.

"Well, hello there. Who knew I could find such a wonderful specimen in a drab place like this?" I purred. I was fairly certain they could hear me through the thin door, which made sense, as I thought I heard some snickering.

"Madam Hawke. I was wondering when I'd be able to get you alone and steal you away from that pesky Fereldan."

"Oh, I know. Ferelden men are _so_ boring. You look like you could show a girl some real fun."

"I assure you, I can." With that, he pounced on me and kissed with the grace of a sloth. I tried to get into it as much as possible while feeling him up for a key. Fortunately I located it quickly and threw it at the door before giving him one last smooch before untangling myself from him.

"Well, you sure proved yourself. Come meet me by the fountain later tonight and you can show me what else you've got." I winked and walked away with a slight swagger in my steps, kicking the key to the other side of the door, and somehow resisted wiping at my mouth until it was safe.

"Oh, Maker's breath, that was _terrible_. I've never had a worse kiss in my life." I complained once we were a safe distance away, downing a drink I had nicked from a servant on my way. I then made sure to right my clothing, as it had gotten a bit disorderly in Mr. Grabby-hands hurry to be, well... grabby.

After laughing at me some more, Garrett, Tallis and Sierra were off- leaving me with the ever stoic Fenris to distract the Duke from discovering their absence. We stared at each other for a moment before actually getting to finding the guy. I eventually spotted him next to his own captive wyvern. Poor dear.

"Oh! He is so lovely. Don't you think so, Fenris?" He kept his hands behind his back and nodded sagely, apparently not taking offense to being my pretend bodyguard for the day.

"Duke Prosper, you simply must tell me how you captured such a magnificent beast!"

"Ah, well it really is quite an interesting story, Madam Hawke." And then he told it. In excruciating detail. I wanted to nod off a couple of times, but managed to keep myself looking interested by sipping my wine ever so often. It was really good. I'd have to make sure Fenris got some. Eventually however, his story ended, and I acted the awed fool.

"You were so brave! Oh, it's simply marvelous to meet someone like you, Messere."

"Thank you, Madam. If you'll excuse me..." He made move to leave, but I gasped and clamped a hand down on my arm other arm.

"Did you see that? I think I was just stung! By a poisonous whipper snapper! Oh, I've heard horror stories about these things! Please, you must help me." I cried, tearing up a little. The Duke quickly sent for a healer, but I fell to my knees in a fit of despair.

"If I die... let the world know that I died at Chateau Haine!" I cried to the heavens, openly sobbing, and capturing the attention of everyone else at the party. They all came to surround me, and the healer had to push her way through them to get to me. Wiping at my tears with her sleeve, she led me away- through the door the others had gone through, no less. We discovered a dead guard, and before the poor woman could scream, I knocked her unconscious with a sleeping spell.

"Really, you'd think they'd be more careful." I said, rolling my eyes and dragging the woman to a corner, while Fenris hid the body in another.

"That was a rather spectacular performance, I must admit." He told me as we continued through the corridor. I shrugged.

"Hopefully that bought them enough time. She'll only be asleep for a couple of hours and we only kept the Duke occupied for one. There's a good chance the other nobles are keeping him busy after my show, though."

"Still, it would be wise to locate them soon." I nodded my agreement and we slunk with the shadows, bypassing any guards that came our way. I even nicked a few pretty things along the way. When we reached a dark corner of a silent hall, it was a good chance for a break.

"And they said we wouldn't be any good at sneaking." I whispered indignantly. Of course, as soon as I said that, I heard guards that were below us bellow "Intruders!" However, they didn't mean us. Which must have meant the others got caught, and there was either a massive slaughter, or they were being held captive. Joy.

"Oh, goodie. I hope it isn't too hard to find them. Ready, Fenris?"

"As if I needed a break."


	25. Chapter 25

"Where in the fruit-bat fuck are we supposed to be _going_?" I asked as we rounded the same corridor for the third time. Really, this whole place was a fucking labyrinth and I was not happy. Neither was Fenris, but he was certainly more calm about it than I.

"To find their cell."

"Well I know that, Captain Obvious." I huffed, crossing my arms. We had come across the dungeons, which were very cold and oppressing. However, they also seemed to pan out for miles underground and we had no map to guide us. Just our luck, really. I sighed and leaned against a nearby gloomy wall to catch my breath.

"We're not going to find them if you keep stopping."

"I do not keep stopping! I am merely pacing myself, thank you very much."

"And while you're pacing yourself, our friends could be dead. Or worse."

"You are _such_ a Debby Downer." But I did get up and we resumed our search. I did decide to burn a small hole onto every other hole we passed, which took a bit of time, but it would help us know when we started turning around. However, as we rounded a new corner, we ran into a group of guards, which included a crazy ass mage. I unleashed a burst of flame at them, which had the foot soldiers screaming for their mommies, but the mage merely shrugged it off, laughing all the while.

"Oh, I am going to enjoy killing you." I growled as Fenris started cutting down the others so I could focus on the mage. I banged my staff on the ground angrily before sending a cone of ice at him. It slowed him down, but not for long, and soon he was countering with a hex. It made me a little ditzy, but my staff helped ward it off quickly enough, which seemed to surprise him. He quickly lashed out with a mana clash just as a bolt from my staff knocked him off his feet, but his clash sent me flying.

"Son of a bitch." I grunted, trying to use my staff to hoist me up, but I felt so incredibly weak with all of my mana drained by the ass. Fenris quickly finished him off before running over to where I slouched against the wall.

"What happened? Are you hurt?"

"Ungh. Mana clash. Hurts like a bitch. Can you see if he has any lyrium potions on him?" He returned quickly enough, uncorking it for me and helping me drink it. It wasn't much of a boost, but my many would regenerate much faster now that I at least had some. I just had to hope we didn't come across anymore guards.

"Thanks. Much better. Could you help me up?" He helped me up gingerly and it was then that I realized that I had cracked my head open when I hit the wall. Joyous. It didn't take too much effort to heal it, but I sure didn't feel good.

"Christ on a bike, that sucked." I muttered, trying to walk on. Fenris had to support me as we walked, and I'm sure a turtle could have passed us up at the rate we were walking. He still hadn't said anything, and the way he was looking at me made me a bit nervous. I couldn't ponder on that too long, as familiar voices echoed ahead.

"Hey, you idiots, over here!" I called. They quickly came into view, racing over to me as they saw my condition.

"You look terrible, Kay."

"Thanks, Sierra. You sure know how to make a gal feel good."

Garrett held a hand to my head for a moment, casting rejuvenate. I felt instant relief and sighed gratefully. With me back at full speed, we raced through the corridors as Tallis explained what all had gone down- and what she was really after. We soon found ourselves back on the hunting grounds, searching for her old mentor, a Qunari. Or something. He had gone rogue, so I didn't really know what he was anymore.

Fenris was still giving me weird looks, and when we got into another battle, he hardly left my side, often taking out my opponents before I could do anything. And it was seriously pissing me off. As soon as it was over, I snapped.

"What is going on with you, Fenris?"

"What?" I gestured between us angrily, scrunching my nose.

"This... thing. You're acting very strangely. This isn't your usual style at all."

"You frightened me."

"Is this another magic rant? I don't think we have time for that, Fenris." He sighed, obviously not wanting to say more, but I was persistent as ever as we walked behind the group.

"There was a time, after the mage, and you didn't get up, I thought..." He groaned a little, shaking his head before looking me in the eye to glare. "Don't do that again."

Ohhh. Well, he could have just _said_ he was worried about me in the first place, and I might not have gotten so angry. Besides, it was kind of sweet now. Especially coming from Fenris. And to a mage. In response I briefly squeezed his hand in mine, but I was obviously not quick enough.

"Hey, lovebirds, there are more important things to do here! Like, I don't know, save thousands of lives?"

"Hit the deck!" I heard Garrett cry as Prosper set off another round of explosives all around us, from atop his pet wyvern. My staff steadied me as I growled, furiously shooting everything I had at this fucker. His wyvern cried out in pain, coming down to attack me directly, without the aid of Prosper's goopy stuff. I gave the Duke a feral grin.

"You think I'm scared, you pompous jackass? Think again. I'm going to show you why _mages_ are feared!" I planted my feet firmly on the ground, holding my arm out as a small cluster of storm clouds formed around us, causing a downpour. The suddenly fierce winds knocked off Prosper's shot as he tried to shoot me, his crossbow bolt thudding in the ground to my right.

I felt my hair rise up with the wind, hitting my face, but it didn't bother me. The air sizzled with magic as lightning crackled up and down my arm, growing faster and faster before I finally gave a furious battle cry, and let the torrent loose. I kept it up as long as I could, releasing bolts from the clouds, but I was quickly drained. I fell to my knees, coughing, and heard a wail of pain as the wyvern collapsed.

"You Fereldan bitch! You'll pay for killing my pet!" Before Prosper could make good on his threat, a hand came around his jaw, hoisting it up to expose his neck, while a dagger slit his throat. The Duke fell in a pool of his own blood, revealing Sierra standing behind him, cleaning her dagger with a look of disgust on her face.

And again, badass of the year award goes to none other than... Sierra. She had immaculate timing, really. I hoisted myself up and walked over to her, congratulating her on a job well done. Grinning proudly, she turned with me to see Tallis pick up her prize carefully. The rest of us joined her and I was almost afraid she would cry.

"I... thank you so much. All of you. I'd have never been able to do this on my own. And you saved countless lives. I don't know if I could ever repay you."

"If you don't take offense to us never going to a party with you again, that would be enough." Garrett joked, before dissolving into relieved laughter with Sierra and I. Fenris even chuckled a little.

Thank the Maker that it was finally over. But I was still miffed that I forgot to jump on that damn bed.


	26. Chapter 26

"How about this?"

I glanced up as Sierra twirled in front of the mirror, the skirt of her dress flowing out with her. It was nice, but far too extravagant for a Satinalia party with friends. Garrett had requested we dress nicely, however, so dresses were warranted. Just not that kind of a dress

"Too much, kitten."

"Isabela's right, Sierra. Next!" The pirate wench and I had already picked out our dresses of course- hers was cut low in the bodice and had large slits up the skirt, showcasing some of her best assets. Mine was more conservative, believe it or not- it was collared and a rich red in color, and covered me up from near head to toe, but it also accentuated my curves rather... well. It was completed with a gold sash tied loosely around my waist, and a long pendant necklace that I had borrowed from Isabela, matching the belt perfectly.

In any case, Sierra's dresses soon became horrendous in the amount of frills on them- ribbons, bows, lace, you name it- the dresses probably had it. Isabela and I looked on with growing horror as she wore the epitome of terrible... Horribly yellow, almost mustard in color, and adorned in terrible examples of design. As soon as Sierra saw it on her, we were relieved to see her nearly rip it in her haste to get it off.

She settled for a simple but classy dress, with a sweet look to it. It was a light blue dress with flowing sleeves, and had a cool style that started by flowing out from underneath her bosom, creating a triangular effect to show off the light skirt beneath them, giving her some contrast in colors. It pooled wonderfully at her feet, and she completed the outfit with a matching silver circlet atop her head. I had to say, I was damn impressed.

"Kitten... We are going to _kill_ everyone there."

Isabela was correct. When we arrived at the party with Merrill, who by the way looked absolutely adorable in her green dress, all the conversation in the room stopped as they took us in. I barely resisted the urge to look away, extremely embarrassed at the awe-struck looks all the men gave us. Even Varric looked surprised. The first person to snap out of it was Garrett, coming over to us with a big grin on his face.

"You all look wonderful, truly. And right on time, too! I had expected you to go for the fashionably late deal."

"I tried, but the kittens simply couldn't wait." Isabela told him, linking arms with him after winking at us. Music started up then, filling the awkward silence, and everyone seemed to phase back to normal. Merrill pounced away to who knows where, so it was just Sierra and I as we walked further into the main room. It was decorated spectacularly for the holidays, which didn't surprise me at all. Mama Hawke must have thrown some parties earlier in the week and Garrett just took advantage of them.

Speaking of Leandra, I set about finding her after gagging at the cuteness that was Anders and Sierra. He practically had stars in his eyes as he looked at her, incessantly telling her how wonderful she looked. Blech. People in love were sweet and all, but sometimes it was just plain gross to hear them going on about each other. I was just glad to find Leandra by the fireplace rather quickly.

"Oh, it's so good to see you, Kayla!" She greeted me with a hug and I suddenly realized that it had been more than a year since I had seen her. Closer to two, in fact. I hugged her tightly, smiling as we parted.

"It's good to be here. Oh, this is going to be fun! Will you be partying with us?"

"Oh no, dear. I imagine I'll be heading up to my room to retire soon- I just couldn't pass up seeing you. And you look so beautiful, too." I smiled and thanked her, then we continued to chat until she excused herself, retreating up the stairs with a warning to not be too loud. I glanced around, quickly finding the drinks and sipping one, delighted at the instant buzz it gave me.

"Lady Kayla!"

"Why, if it isn't Sebastian Vael. Good to see you!" I told the shiny prince, gathering him in a brief hug. He laughed and took a big gulp of his own drink before striking up a conversation, but he was soon whisked away to teach Merrill how to dance. The poor dear had absolutely no rhythm. Sierra and Anders whirled and twirled their way around them, obviously needing no help in the dance department. I sighed, content, downing the remainder of my drink before fetching a refill.

Then, I decided enough was enough and started my search to find the Broody elf himself. I didn't spot him in the main hall and ducked into the library to find him staring at one of the statues hung on the wall with contempt. He was dressed _very_ nicely- he had a long and black trench-coat thing on, looking very fancy, and had a dark and somewhat low cut shirt with white bordering it on under it. His pants looked rather swanky too, and he was actually wearing _shoes_. Granted, they were armored and matched the new gauntlets he was sporting, but I thought he looked wonderful.

"You got a drink, handsome?" I called from the doorway, drawing his attention over to me. He raised his glass to me, smiling slightly as he took in my appearance. I crossed over to him, looking up at the statue he had been glaring at, though his gaze was still on me.

"Did this offend you somehow?" I asked, poking it.

"It reminds me of the Imperium."

"Then don't look at it." I told him, nearly sighing at his broodiness. This was a party! He was supposed to have fun, _not_ moping in the library. I took his hand and dragged him out to where the others were, forcing him into the dance circle with me. Anders and Sierra had taken a break, it seemed- though now Garrett and Isabela were stealing the stage.

"Care to dance?" I asked, holding out my hand. He gestured as if to say 'what the hell' and took my hand to guide me into the next song. I smiled at him, thoroughly excited. I hadn't danced like this in ages and while I suspected Fenris hadn't either, we were practically flawless as we spun around. I laughed over the rush of blood and music in my ears, delighted when he smiled back.

It seemed like we danced the night away, but details quickly got blurry and sketchy, and everything faded away except Fenris' smiling face as I blacked out.

Waking up was _not_ going to be fun.


	27. Chapter 27

So, guess where I woke up the next day, hissing at the sun and dressed in nothing but my small-clothes? If you guessed Fenris' bedroom, you're sadly mistaken, no matter how much I wished you were right. Where did I wake up then, you ask? You're not going to believe me.

I woke up on the motherfucking chandelier.

You heard me! I was on the chandelier in Garrett's mansion, at least a good twenty feet in the air from the first floor, and there was no way I was jumping down there. Sure, I could heal whatever happened to me, but I'd really rather not. There was the banister, however, which wasn't too far away. Glancing around, I saw that no one was in the area. Not wanting to alert them to my predicament, I slowly edged over to it, hoping to gain some footing and kind of collapse on the second floor.

My foot slipped, however, and I screeched as I dangled dangerously, only held up by my meek arms. I heard a door slam and craned my neck to see who had come, only to find a bewildered looking Garrett before he broke down into absolutely unnecessary laughter.

"Just help me down!"

"Oh no. This is too good." I tried swinging my foot out to kick him, but that just caused me to lose a bit of my grip. I shrieked a bit before taking in a few deep breaths, turning to face him again.

"Garrett, I swear to the Maker if you do not get me down from here before Varric waltzes in and this story ends up all over town, you will be in pieces before I even hit the floor."

"Fine, fine." He quickly got me down and while I could have wept in thanks, I was still too pissed and shocked at this whole situation that I couldn't say anything until he healed me of my hangover, something that hadn't even crossed my mind.

"Thanks. What the hell happened? And have you seen my dress anywhere?"

"I have no idea, on both accounts. Did you wake up on there? I don't think that's a very comfortable place to sleep, Kay." I sent him a glare.

"Trust me, I _know_. Let's just... find the others and forget this mess ever happened. I'd be happier if you'd fetch me some clothes, though." Thankfully he agreed and returned quickly with some pants and a shirt that was three sizes too big, but I was in no position to complain.

We went to the closest room off the side, and stopped dead in our tracks. Now, there are quite a few things that surprised us. I'll try to be as clear as possible.

"Is Sebastian... wearing your dress? And waltzing with a vase? With no music at all?" Scratch that- that's pretty much all you needed to know.

"Yes... Yes it is."

We stood in awed silence before simply closing the door, not wanting to look any longer. I think I shuddered.

"Forget that ever happened?"

"Agreed."

We slowly shuffled to the opened hallway closet, very wary at what we would find next. It was honestly a relief to just find Anders and Sierra passed out on the floor next to each other, thankfully dressed. But Garrett and I grinned evilly- they were so not living this down. I kicked Sierra lightly with my foot, nudging her awake. She blinked owlishly at me, before waking up with a start.

"... Kay? What happened? And why does my head feel like I bashed it against a wall several times?" It was highly likely that she did, judging by the knot on her forehead, but I decided not to mention it and relieved her of her pain, along with Anders as he awoke. He took one look at us all, muttered 'not _again_...' before getting up and helping us with our search. I made a mental note to ask him about that later, but for now, we had a mission.

"What about that door, there? It looks like someone's in there." Sierra suggested, pointing to the room we had just come from. I leaped in front of her, shaking my head with a frightened look on my face.

"Trust me, you do not want to see what's going on in there. We'll deal with that... later." Thankfully, she took my word on it and we carried on. Our next discovery was Varric, sleeping soundly on the floor with Bianca cuddled up against him. Now, I usually wouldn't say a crossbow could cuddle, but it seemed the appropriate word.

"Son of a nug. Who could pull a fast one on me? _I'm_ the one who drugs drinks. No one drugs me!" He huffed angrily, but was otherwise silent. We found Isabela with her ass in the air (Aveline would _so_ enjoy this), and face buried in a ton of papers. She woke up, blinked at us, and simply said "Shit."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Bela."

We then found Fenris atop a bookshelf in the library, clutching a bottle of wine very closely to him, and looking positively adorable. I must have made an 'awww' sound, as Garrett turned to look at me smugly. I rolled my eyes and brought over the little stepping ladder so I could nudge him awake without startling him enough that he would fall off. I grinned as his lovely green eyes blinked open, but before I could get too caught up in them, I nudged his shoulder before casting a healing spell.

"Why... am I on a bookcase?"

"Beats me, love." I said as he hopped down beside me, righting his clothing. Aside from the dress stealer upstairs, that left... Merrill. Maker save us- we had lost an idiot _blood mage_, who was probably hopped up on drugs most the night. This would not go over well. We all split up and searched every room, but found no elven apostate anywhere. Garrett was about to pull his hair out when the mage in question came in from the front door, whistling quite cheerily.

"Oh, good morning everyone. I hope you had a lovely time last night, I know I did! I even brought my clan's special blend of herbs that we put in our drinks at every gathering. It really livens things up!"

"_Merrill_ drugged us?" Anders exclaimed, near outrage.

"I most certainly did not! It's not my fault if you lot reacted... strangely to the mixture!" I think we all facepalmed at the same time, but before further lines of questioning could start, my dress appeared at the top of the stairs, with a still hopped up prince in it.

"So _that's_ what you didn't want us to see..." Sierra realized and with growing horror we watched Sebastian twirl, causing the skirt to fly up and reveal things better left unseen. Isabela catcalled, of course, but Sierra and I averted our eyes.

"Um... Happy Satinalia?" I tried. Everyone turned to look at me with narrowed eyes, before eventually dissolving into laughter.

Oh, we were never letting Merrill anywhere _near_ our drinks ever again.


	28. Chapter 28

After we had calmed down and somehow gotten Sebastian out of my now ruined dress, I wondered aloud how he had even gotten in it. Of course, Merrill remembered, and was absolutely delighted to clue us all in as we were seated around her by the fire.

"Well, a bit later into the night you were telling Sebastian how uncomfortable you were in your dress. He offered to hold it for you if you wanted to change, which he appears to have taken quite seriously." Sebastian coughed awkwardly as the rest of us snickered. "Then, you ran throughout the house in just your small-clothes! It was a bit like what children do whenever they can disrobe. Very cute! But then you appeared at the top of the banister, holding up your arms like you wanted everyone to cheer you on. Everyone did, and you took a great big leap! At first you were just dangling a bit from the ceiling, giving us a rather nice view." Nearly everyone around me gave a grunt of agreement as the memory came back to them. I put my head in my hands.

"Is my ass the _only _thing you lot have managed to remember?" More grunts. Joyous.

"For a human, you've got a very shapely backside. Nicest I've seen in all my years, truth be told."

"Thanks, Varric." Merrill hushed us before I could say anything else, eager to resume her story.

"Now, I'm not sure exactly how you got yourself entirely on top of it, but none of us could figure out how to get you down! Eventually, you just fell asleep there, poor dear. Sebastian was twirling and swirling in your dress however, so it was kind of like you were still there. The party still went on."

"Really? You couldn't figure out how to get me down?"

"Don't blame us, Kay. You were the one who went up there in the first place." I couldn't really argue with that. The story went on, telling us how Isabela planned on penning a bunch of letters in Garrett's name to all the nobles in Kirkwall, calling them every name she could think of (which was a lot), but fell asleep in the act. Sierra and Anders had boogied until they just couldn't boogie any more, tried to get upstairs to a guest bedroom, but deciding the closet was good enough. Then Fenris and Varric had set about giving the place a makeover, with Varric writing crude suggestions all about the walls. Our dwarven compatriot looked rather proud. Fenris then retreated to the library, though Merrill wasn't quite sure how he got on top of the bookcase without hurting himself.

"... I might have." He confessed, wincing as he touched the back of his head gingerly. Rolling my eyes I crawled behind him to survey the damage. It certainly wasn't bad- it looked like he had merely conked his head once or twice- and it was a quick fix. Merrill seemed to be a bit annoyed by the interruptions, but she still kept trucking along. Sebastian apparently had made his way upstairs with one of Leandra's favorite vases in hand; cooing at it like it was the love of his life.

Soon, only Garrett was left. We all turned to look at him, but he merely shrugged and gestured back to Merrill, who sighed a bit sadly.

"I didn't see Hawke do anything. I mean, he partied rather wild, but went to sleep in his room like a perfect angel." That was _so_ not fair!

"Mwahahaha! It's settled then... I am a _god_!" He cried, standing atop his desk and drawing an imaginary sword. We scowled at him, rather disappointed, but we were in for a grand surprise.

"_Garrett Hawke!_" Leandra screeched from her room. "Why in the world is there a _snowstorm_ in my _bedroom_?" Garrett got down then, looking rather afraid. I burst into hysterical laughter. Oh, this was rich.

"Coming, mother..." He called rather meekly, going up the stairs mournfully.

Ha! So much for the self-proclaimed god.


	29. Chapter 29

"Where are we _going_, Garrett?" I whined as he led me out of the Darktown Clinic, and up a small set of stairs nearby. He had told me to keep my eyes closed and although every fiber of my being told me not to, I obeyed. If I couldn't trust Garrett, who could I trust?

"You are so impatient. Fine, you can open your eyes now."

I gasped as I did. I have no idea where we were, but the floors were a beautiful dark wood, along with the walls. On both sides of the room were doors leading elsewhere- to be seen in the near future, hopefully. In a corner by the stairs was a little kitchen area that looked positively adorable. In the main area, however, numerous cots (and not the rickety old ones Anders had) lined up. I counted at least sixteen. The area was also very well lit and felt warm, despite there being no windows to let the sun in.

"You did _not_!"

"Oh, but I did. Welcome to your new clinic! It's pretty much right next door to Anders' humble abode, but off to each side are some bedrooms. There's a big king sized bed in each, and since Anders and Sierra are a well known thing these days, I figured I'd bunk them together. That way you get a room all to yourself." I thought I was going to faint, I was so shocked and happy. Garrett grinned, quite proud with himself.

"And, I'm just upstairs! I've completely refurbished my cellars for you all to use as your home and clinic. I expect praise and utter devotion to me and my cause."

"As if I wasn't already! Have you shown the others yet?"

"No. I wanted to show you first, as I'm certain you want to get a good look at their faces. Can't do that with tears in your eyes from my generosity, now can you?" I giggled and ran over to hug him. I was so blessed to have a best friend like him. He spun me around and kissed the top of my head before releasing me and we set about getting Anders and Sierra.

While I was obviously superior and did not succumb to the shock and excitement, Anders was not so lucky. He hit the floor with a dull thud and the rest of us just kind of stared for a minute before helping him onto one of the cots, as our first patient in the new location. I awoke him with a spell and we spent a good time laughing at him. Er, I mean with him. Yes. Not at him.

We moved in a couple of days later after everything had been settled with Lirene, who had been shocked at our upgrade. That's not really important now, however. What _is_ important is that since I was so close, I went to visit Garrett all the time. However, he wasn't always home and so I got to spend a great amount of time with Leandra.

It was a little later in the day than usual as I hopped up the stairs, calling out her name. She wasn't where I thought she'd be- standing by the fireplace- so I set about finding her, whistling all the while.

"Mama Hawke! I desire your brilliant company!" I called, finally finding her out in the backyard. However, she wasn't alone, but instead was with someone I sure hadn't wanted to ever see again. Both women gasped as I stopped dead in my tracks, a bit horrified.

"Oh, if it isn't Garrett Hawke's fiancé! Or is it wife, now? Oh, I never got an invitation, so it must not have happened yet!" Comtess Dulci de Launcet flung herself at me, drowning me in her choking perfume as she wrapped me in a hug. Leandra's mouth flapped open in closed, a bit like a fish, and I had to resist face-palming as the Comtess finally released me.

"... Dulci, didn't you say you had to go visit your son? I'm sure you don't want to miss that." Leandra finally said and the Comtess gasped before bidding us farewell. Mama Hawke then led me inside, where we sat in silence for a time, before she finally spoke up.

"So, a minor noble from _Orlais_ found out you were engaged to _my_ son before me?" I grimaced. Oh, this was not going to be fun. Not at all.

"No, ma'am. That's not it at all."

"Oh? Did he think to hide you from me? Oh, I should have caught on sooner. I'd hoped to not bring even more magic into my line, but I can't stop young love." I gaped. Holy Maker, please save me from this embarrassment. I would prefer a quick death. _Please_.

"No. When we went to that party, in the mountains?" She nodded in recognition. "At one point during our visit, I had to pretend to be engaged to Garrett to keep the mission safe. The Comtess was there and heard me."

"Ah. I see, then." I hung my head in shame. She sounded... disappointed.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right, dear. I'll admit, when I first met you, I had been hoping you'd fall for one of my boys, but it seems clear to me that you don't really feel that way for each other. But you do make him happy, so I'm grateful for that. You make me happy too."

"I love you, Leandra." I told her honestly, tears springing to my eyes for some unknown reason. Well, that's not entirely true. In the years that I had known her, Garrett's mother had become the parent I'm not sure I ever had. And it meant the world to me.

"I love you too, dear."


	30. Chapter 30

A rather interesting thing about me is that whenever I read, I crack up at any and all of the jokes. I seem to find them utterly hilarious, snickering and cackling all the while. Whenever I got the chance to read I retreated to my bedroom, as it made my friends rather afraid if I cackled in their presence. But, you can imagine how loud I was howling when I got a hold of one of _Varric's_ books.

It was a romance novel, though it was more of a smut book. I was thoroughly pleased that it didn't have me or any of my friends in it, as far as I could tell. It was probably printed before he even met us, as I'm sure he couldn't have resisted had he the chance to put us all in such compromising positions. There were a few things I didn't understand, however.

"Anders... What's an Antivan Milk Sandwich?" My friend choked on nothing, turning around to regard me with absolute terror. I frowned. It certainly couldn't have been that bad, could it? I merely held the book up for him to see, which seemed to calm him some, though he was still very shocked.

"You don't want to know. And even if you do, I'm certainly not going to be the one to tell you." I huffed, trying to think of who I could ask next. Varric was obviously the best option, as he had wrote it, but he was out of town. Isabela was next. But despite searching for her at the Hanged Man numerous times, I couldn't find hide nor hair of the pirate wench. Sighing, I went to Garrett.

"Garrett, please tell me you know what an Antivan Milk Sandwich is."

"Ah, no, I can't say as I do. I bet Anders or Isabela does, though." I pouted.

"Anders won't tell me, and I can't find Isabela anywhere." Garrett looked somewhat concerned before shaking it off, rubbing his forehead as he tried to come up with possible solutions.

"Well, Sierra wouldn't know. I don't want to know if Aveline does, I don't need _that_ in my head. I guess either Sebastian or Fenris."

"Fenris it is, then."

I whistled to myself as I nearly skipped over to his mansion, eager to see him. I very rarely got the chance to these days, as I was always busy with the clinic whenever Garrett went out on missions. It started to rain on my way over, but I wasn't bothered too much. I just made sure to keep the book as dry as possible. Knocking on his door, I waited for him to come down.

"Do you need something? I imagine it's important, considering that it's raining."

"It's of critical importance, thank you very much. May I come in?" He sighed and moved to let me by, shutting the door behind me. I shimmied a little, flinging some of the water off my shirt. I imagined I looked an awful lot like Fifi whenever she did that. Fenris directed me upstairs to where he kept a fire going, directing me to sit in front of it while he drank from a bottle of Agreggio. I wondered if he drank anything else.

"Out with it then."

"Right. Do you know what an Antivan Milk Sandwich is?" To my shock and somewhat my amusement, he choked on his wine. Coughing, he regarded me with _very_ wide eyes. Wow. It _had_ to be good, then.

"I've... heard it's definition, yes. Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, I read it in one of Varric's books. I can't really understand the scene though, so I thought I'd see if knowing what it is would help. Either no one knows or they refuse to tell me." Fenris sighed, hesitantly coming over to tell me what it was with an awkward near-whisper. Gasping, I tossed the book away like it burned.

"No! You're yanking my chain, right?"

"I am not."

"Um. Wow. I'm not sure what's more disturbing; the name itself and what it is, or the fact that both you and Anders know what it is." I shuddered, but Fenris just laughed.

"Worry not, I do not have firsthand experience in that area. Before I came here, however, I met an Antivan who was very vocal about all he would do with his many lovers. I can't speak for the mage, however." We shared a gruesome shudder over that thought. Any more I did _not_ want to know.

"I can only hope people don't mind doing it because the sex was rather nice beforehand. I certainly wouldn't know."

"You've never had such a relationship before?" He sounded so genuinely surprised I couldn't figure out if I should be insulted or amused. I settled on huffing and crossing my arms before narrowing my eyes at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Mhm, suuuuure, Fenris. Sure. I certainly didn't believe him for one second, and I suppose he could tell as he lifted his hands in mock surrender and finally sat down beside me. Sighing, he began to explain.

"What I meant was that it is surprising a beautiful woman such as yourself has not had all the men of Kirkwall vying for her attentions."

"Uh-huh, and just how much have you had to drink tonight?" He chuckled, and in combination with his words, my heart fluttered in my chest rather annoyingly. I had to take numerous deep breaths as subtly as I could. Oh, be still my heart.

"Not much, actually. I simply speak the truth."

"Right. What about you, then? Anybody stolen your heart?" I sure hoped not; it felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest it was beating so fast. I'm not sure it could take such a big blow like that. Fenris shrugged, looking at me rather intently. I couldn't figure out what he meant by that, so we had some sort of a stare down until he looked away, picking up my discarded book and handing it to me.

"What's the title of this, anyway?"

"... Stout and Shapely."

"Sounds like Varric."

"True. I'm not sure I can finish it, though. But if you're interested, you can have it. You might fare better than I." Oddly enough, he looked embarrassed as he refused my offer, pushing the book securely into my lap.

"Another time, perhaps. Though, I wouldn't object to you reading some of it aloud." I'm fairly certain my eyebrows shot up so high they flew off my forehead, but I couldn't bring myself to be concerned about that. Was he really asking me to read smut to him? Oh, boy. Maybe he didn't know what he was asking.

"... You want me to read a trashy romance novel to you? Why, Fenris, I didn't know our relationship meant that much to you. I don't know if we can survive such commitment." He rolled his eyes and I just giggled, opening up the book to the start, and began reading for him to hear. I shut it shortly there afterward, cheeks aflame. I had forgotten it even opened up with a sex scene.

"I, uh... Ahem. It's... rather graphic. Are you sure you wouldn't rather read it yourself, without me fumbling over every word and snickering every few paragraphs?"

"I cannot."

"What do you mean? I'm not stopping you."

"No, it's just..." He groaned before downing more of his wine, clearly not happy about this. "Slaves are not permitted to read or write. I never learned." I was glad he wasn't looking at me, then- I don't think sincere horror and pity is very attractive on me. I shook myself of it after a few more moments of stunned silence and put my hand on his shoulder so he would look at me.

"It's never too late to start. I could always teach you. And hey, maybe we can read this trashy stuff together soon enough. That'd be fun." I honestly didn't know how good I'd be at teaching someone as proud as Fenris. Or teaching anyone, for that matter. I always fumbled and lost context when I tried to explain something important, but if he really wanted to, I would do my best for him.

"I suppose... Very well, then."

"Yay!" I clapped happily. "What time works for you?"

"Whenever we are both free, and I am sober. Which is not now."

"Good plan, good plan." He chuckled a tad more. God dammit, could he stop making me feel warm and fuzzy already? I probably looked like I had a fever at the rate my cheeks were burning. Sighing, I picked the book back up, flipping through its pages as I changed positions, lying on my back and draping my legs across his lap, as a bit of a test to determine how comfortable he could be with me. He didn't react and just kept sipping his wine.

"You got any more of that lying around? I could use a drink."

"I'd get you one, but as you are currently lying on top of me..." He trailed off, gesturing to my legs. Well, duh, Fenris. It's not like I was going to forget I was that close to you so soon. But I still moved them, rolling my eyes all the while. He handed me a bottle, which was probably not a wise decision considering how much I loved to test my limits. He was well on his way to drunk by then and I just didn't give a damn, which may or may not have ended in a drinking contest.

"Mmkay!" I hiccuped, taking another long drag. We'd already gone through our first bottles. "You go!" I clapped happily as he obeyed and I wasn't sure if there was going to be a clear winner in this.

"Will Gary ever get in Isabela's pants?" I whined, suddenly thinking of them.

"I didn't know she owned pants."

"Ha!" I snorted before dissolving into laughter, falling over on my side. I sounded a bit like a walrus then, but I kept drinking anyway. It wasn't long until my eyes were droopy and my words were slurred. Fenris had kind of collapsed, using my stomach as a pillow. Luckily enough for him, I sure didn't mind.

"Fen-fen..." He grunted in response.

"N'vrmin... I go sleep sleeps. Ni ni." And with that, I was out.


	31. Chapter 31

"Ugh. It smells like wine and desperation in here. Strangely enough, I'm not surprised to find you in the middle of it, Kay." Some terrible, wicked person said in a loud voice above me. They were also nudging me with their foot- none too gently, I might add. Bastards.

"Go 'wayyy..." I whined, throwing a hand over my still closed eyes to prevent any possible sunlight from coming through. I became away of vibrations on my abdomen, but I soon recognized snoring and deduced it was Fenris. Let's also not forget that my head was killing me and I was about to cry. So of course my assailant decided it was the perfect time to whistle cheerily as they continued to prod me.

"Whoever you are, I hate you. Go away."

"No can do, Kay. I wanted to borrow you both today- Isabela found another lead on the relic. Up Sundermount this time." I shot up at that, jostling Fenris awake. Garrett was standing above me, looking all too smug and superior for my tastes. I got up hastily after curing myself and my hung-over buddy of our pounding headaches to glare at him.

"This isn't going to be another boot in a chest again, is it?"

"Hopefully not. But you two aren't coming until you brush your teeth. Maker, how much did you drink?" I turned around, wincing at the empty bottles littering the already dismantled floor tiles. Scratching my head, I looked back at Garrett sheepishly. Fenris had gone off to do whatever, leaving us alone.

"Between the two of us, around six bottles. I'm surprised we didn't drink ourselves to death, actually."

"I can only hope it led to wonderful drunken sex. Otherwise I am sorely disappointed."

"Join the club, pal."

We left for Sundermount a few hours later, Fifi in tow. She was positively delighted, bouncing all over the place. I had to tell her to calm down, though, after she jumped on Isabela with mud covered paws, ruining the pirate's outfit. I apologized, though she knew I was snickering inside my head and stuck her tongue out at me. I merely twirled my staff, whistling as I walked away.

About half a mile up the trail, something felt a bit fishy all of a sudden. Garrett tensed and held up a hand for us to keep back so he could listen, but before anything was to be heard, a spear came hurtling towards us, grazing his arm before impaling itself into the ground. A ton more flew over head and I quickly reacted by throwing a shield over us as a group of Qunari rushed towards us.

As soon as I let the shield down Isabela and Fenris were off, distracting most of the enemy from Garrett and I as we fired off spells.

"Saarebas!" One cried, pointing right at us.

"Oh, goodie. I was hoping to have the spotlight, Gary."

"Just shut up and cast."

"Touchy." I teased, but did as he told, swirling my staff around me as I shot off a cone of cold at the few who neared us. Garrett finished the job by conjuring a boulder to crash into them, creating a sickly mess I didn't care to look too long at. The battle was over with that and I healed Garrett's arm. I then went over to Isabela to find out why she wasn't getting off her butt.

"I twisted my ankle. I mean, of all the things to happen, my _ankle_! Embarrassing, kitten." I rolled my eyes and took off her boot gently, testing the seriousness of the sprain as I laughed.

"You're a regular Achilles, Bela."

"What, kitten?"

"Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan... Um… Nevermind." I sputtered, directing all my attention towards her ankle as my heart pounded in my chest. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but I didn't really want to think on what had bled through the cracks. I wasn't sure if I wanted to remember anything more.

"Greek?" But Garrett apparently couldn't tell how uncomfortable I was and just _had_ to ask. I avoided it by sliding Isabela's boot back on her and picking up my staff, not ready to face the music of my own crazy mind.

"She means the book she was telling me about last night." Fenris answered for me. I looked at him in surprise. I certainly hadn't said anything like that to him. "It was a story book, set in a place named Greece. The hero was Achilles, who was invincible, aside from his ankle."

"Oh! That makes sense, then."

I blinked away my confusion as Garrett walked on, Isabela at his side. Fenris and Fifi came over to me, both adorable in their concern, though I knew better than to mention that little tidbit to the one with a giant greatsword strapped to his back.

"... Thanks for saving me. I really don't want to think about what else I would have said."

"It's fine. We should move on."

We sadly still did not find Isabela's lost relic, but we did find a substantial amount of gold. I could tell the ever greedy pirate wanted to keep it all to herself, but a stern look from Garrett had her handing it over to him with a pout. He divided it up between the four of us and I was about twenty sovereigns richer. I was still rather freaked out about my slip, so I hastily declined Garrett's offer of dinner and fled down to my bedroom with Fifi, dragging Sierra in with me.

"Something came through, Sierra."

"What was it?"

"Something about a Greek war hero, named Achilles. I can't remember for the life of me anymore about him than that and Fenris saved me from further embarrassment, but I'm kind of... scared." She nodded and hugged me, prompting Fifi to whine until I included her.

"I'm not sure I even want to remember, Sierra. I'm happy here, you're happy here. What happens if we do suddenly remember our past and everything falls apart?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Kay. I'm just as scared as you. Perhaps even more so." I nodded shakily, realizing that while I had a lot to lose, she had so much more. The necklace Anders had given her years ago glimmered around her neck to further prove my point. I decided to try and cheer us both up, then.

"Want to go bug Garrett? I saw him getting rather... close with Isabela earlier."

"Ooo. Fun. I'm up for it."

"Good. Onwards, my friend!"


	32. Chapter 32

I sat with Fenris in my room barely over a week later, pouring over the alphabet with him. He was doing remarkably well with our lessons, having already learned how to read and write his own name. And since everyone else thought he was visiting me for romantic reasons, they were none the wiser to his situation. Though I did somewhat wish they were right, it was actually rather fun to just teach him things.

"All right, that's good." I told him as he finished reciting the alphabet for me. He fumbled a bit at parts, but it was still very nice. "How about trying to spell my name, now? It's a letter shorter than yours." He nodded, taking the parchment and quill from me. This was a bit selfish of me- having him learn his name was important, but mine could wait until later. Still, I was enamored as he said it slowly aloud, sounding it out somewhat. He wrote the first two letters- K and A.

"That's very good! Now, the next part is a bit tricky. Do you remember that letter I told you was only sometimes a vowel?" I was a bit worried that he would think I was placating him as I gave him praise, but he merely furrowed his brow in concentration. His eyes seemed to light up as he remembered, writing down the third letter, Y, confidently. I grinned at him.

"You don't know how many people I've known leave out the y. It's good that you didn't. Now, there are only two letters left." Before I could continue encouraging him, Anders called out for me in the main room, asking for assistance.

"I'll be back soon. You can keep trying, or take a break until I get back." I told him, swiftly leaving and closing the door behind me. Anders wagged his eyebrows at me suggestively, before pointing me to a young girl clutching her bleeding and possibly broken arm. I didn't spare him another glance and went over to the girl, handing her one of the candies we kept for these types of cases. Her good arm took it and she popped it in her mouth, but I was already done healing her by then.

"Whoa!" She said in awe, testing it out by squeezing my hand. I winked at her, scooting her back over to her mother before going over to the next patient. It ended up taking around half an hour until I was actually able to get back to Fenris, but when I did, I couldn't have been happier at his progress. He handed the parchment over for me to inspect, and I couldn't help but squeal a little.

He had written my name down several times, all correct. His penmanship was clearly getting better as well. He had even written his name down a few times, right next to mine and I tried not to feel like it was some sort of romantic gesture. He was just writing down our names to learn and nothing more. But still, I threw my arms around him and squealed in excitement.

"This is fantastic!" I cried and his arms came around me hesitantly to rest on my back as he chuckled. I separated from him sooner than I wanted to, but I certainly didn't want to make it awkward. Well, more awkward than it already was, what with him sitting on my bed with me for hours on end, pretty much every day of the week.

"I'm really impressed, Fenris. This is a very good place to end today's session. Wanna go upstairs and steal Garrett's food from and not share with anyone?"

"Lead on." And so I did, taking him up the cellar steps and into the main house. Well, it was actually a mansion, but it felt weird to say that. We rounded a corner leading into the main hall, but I stopped dead in my tracks, causing Fenris to bump into me.

"What are you-" He tried, but I quickly hushed him and slunk back far enough so only my head was visible in the corridor. You see, spying is probably my favorite hobby and _boy_ was I getting an eyeful tonight. Isabela was pretty much wrapped around Garrett as they locked lips, making all kinds of embarrassing (and perfect) noises. Garrett was trying to back up the stairs to get to his room, but he slipped. Luckily he caught himself on the banister and the two shared a laugh before making it the rest of the way safely.

Once a minute or two passed, I squealed as loud as I deemed safe and practically danced in place. Oh, this was _fantastic_. I put my hands together, cackling evilly before turning back to Fenris.

"Did you see that...?" I began, but he had been far closer to me than I expected, so as I turned our noses touched and our breaths mingled. He was looking into my eyes intently and I became aware how tightly he was clutching my arms as it soon became painful. I couldn't bring myself to say anything, too enraptured in the moment. I was waiting for one of us to take that scary step forward, hoping it wouldn't be me.

I quickly became impatient however, as my arms started to lose circulation. I inched forward, as I didn't want to scare him away, so you can imagine my surprise as he met me more than halfway, our mouths colliding wonderfully. He pushed me against the wall, finally relinquishing his grasp on my arms to lift my thighs up so I could wrap myself around him and tangle my hands in his frost white hair as we ravaged each other.

I can't say how long the kiss lasted, as I lost track of time rather quickly, but I knew I never wanted it to end. It was the most amazing experience of my life thus far and it was like I couldn't get enough. I wondered if it looked like we were trying to consume each other, which really wasn't too far from the truth. However, all good things must come to an end and someone clearing their throat almost right next to us had us breaking apart.

"Well, it's good to know that you have experience in this area." A certain ginger deadpanned, tapping her foot expectantly. I let out a breath on a woosh, laughing awkwardly as Fenris set me down.

"Howdy, Aveline! Er, what brings you here on this fine day?" She raised a brow.

"Fine day indeed." She replied coolly before turning to go back into the main hall, leaving us no choice but to follow along like children caught in the cookie jar. I could only hope Aveline would be an indulgent mother, but that was a bit of a stretch.

"Where's Hawke?" She asked, standing by the fireplace and looking a bit nervous, actually.

"He's kind of... busy."

"The kind of busy you were up to? Is everyone in this house just mad with desire?" I scratched my head, shrugging as she sighed. Well, at least she didn't seem to want to scold us. That was a good thing, right?

"I suppose it can't be helped. I find myself needing help with the same thing."

"No offense, Aveline, but I can't say as I swing that way."

"I- what? No, not that! I... need some advice. On one of my guardsmen, Donnic."

"The man you saved from that ambush?" Fenris finally joined in the conversation, already sexy voice made even sexier by it's rough quality. He cleared his throat afterward, though, and looked at me. I gave him a lewd wink, causing Aveline to roll her eyes.

"Yes, that's him. He's a good man, Donnic. But I just can't seem to talk with him. I get all tongue-tied, and end up making a fool of myself. And just so we're clear, if either of you tell the slattern about _any_ of this, I will not hesitate to arrest you."

"My lips are sealed. Unless Fenris gives me ample reason to unseal them of course, your secret's safe with me."

"Likewise."

"Grand." Aveline sighed, putting a hand to her head. I had a feeling she was regretting telling us already, but she couldn't take it back now. And I was already devoted to helping her out- it was the least I could do for a woman who did so much and hardly ever complained.

"Let's get a move on then, shall we?" I suggested, asking the two warriors to go ahead on to the barracks while I told Anders where I was going. Leaving out the details as to why, though, so he looked at me rather quizzically before sending me off.

I couldn't wait to get my hands deep in matchmaking.


	33. Chapter 33

A time comes when a woman must seriously consider bashing her head against the table, as she has just been embarrassed within an inch of her life. Sadly, that woman was me and the embarrassment was in the smack middle of the Hanged Man. You see, after convincing Donnic to meet Aveline and I (with some nonexistent others) for a round on me, I found myself sitting with the guardsman, no Aveline in sight. Fenris was watching from the corner, but it became awkward terribly fast.

"... Drink?"

"Maker, please."

We downed our respective drinks in horrendous silence, with me trying every now and then to strike up conversation and bring it towards Aveline, hoping to figure out if he was interested in her at all, to somewhat expedite the process. All of my attempts failed and I think he started to glare at me after the last try. I sighed, pressing a hand to my head as my ginger friend was nowhere to be found. Donnic then stood up, shaking a fist at me.

"You know, if you're using me to get to the Guard Captain, I won't help you. She deserves someone with at least a bit of backbone." I gaped as he stormed out, which brings us back to the introduction. The table was looking mighty fine, but before I could end this sorry excuse of a date, Aveline plopped down in front of me, in Donnic's vacated seat.

"I couldn't do it." She confessed. I scrunched up my face and threw my hands in the air, exasperated.

"Oh, really? Couldn't you have sent me some sort of signal from wherever you were to end that disaster? 'Cause now he thinks I was using him to get to you. He yelled and said you deserved someone with a spine. I'll tell you, I'm very unhappy with you right now." She blushed and put her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry. I just... I haven't been on a date since Wesley and he died five years ago. It still feels strange without him."

"Oh, fine. I'll think of something else then. Go get Fenris- I need another mind that is not yours right now." Thankfully she consented, sending him over to me and going where she had been hiding before hand, I presume.

"It didn't look like that went well." He remarked, a bit snidely.

"No, it didn't go well at all. What do we do now? He's not going to like talking to me again."

"You could always just have Aveline herself talk to him." I scoffed.

"Aside from giving her cue cards, she wouldn't know what the hell to say, and that is if I could even get her near him." But wait, that somehow gave me an idea. I grinned at Fenris evilly and he looked at me rather wary.

"What have you devised this time?"

"Well, if you wouldn't mind getting Donnic to stand outside her door without her knowing, I might be able to get her to say what she feels in earshot of him. His reaction to my 'cowardly ways' seemed like he could have feelings of that nature towards her."

"Not bad. Very well, I shall assist you. Tomorrow, then?"

"You got it. But don't think I'm going to let the subject of you and I drop afterward." I rose, winking at him, and left the bar after waving to Aveline. Hopefully, my plan would go smoothly.

I cornered the Guard Captain in her office, where she was currently obsessing over some paperwork to avoid talking to me. I merely rolled my eyes. I had met with Fenris outside a few minutes earlier and he told me that as soon as he had Donnic close enough, I'd be able to detect his voice and keep Aveline from realizing Donnic was out there. I hummed and whistled until then, somehow containing my smile as his deep baritone drifted to me from under the door.

"Aveline, can you tell me just what you see in him?"

"In Donnic? Why? I don't see how informing you on the depth of my emotions really helps."

"Well, come on, Aveline. I'm just trying to make sure you really want this. And if I can dissuade you from such a guy, well... All the better."

"Excuse me?" She inhaled sharply, finally looking up at me with a fire burning in her eyes.

"He has a bad habit of jumping to conclusions. I learned that last night, thank you very much. And I'm fairly certain he picked his nose when he thought I wasn't looking. I mean, really Aveline, couldn't you have picked someone with better hygiene?"

"I don't see those as deal breakers."

"Ugh. If you just need someone to bend you over a basin, Aveline, I've got quite a lot of connections to the Blooming-" I was cut off as she stood angrily, almost afraid she would cut me down in her fury.

"Shut up, you harlot. I don't need you mocking me and I certainly don't need you slandering him. Donnic's a good man, with a very noble heart. I asked for your help in pursuing him, as I am clearly no great flirt, but also because I thought we were friends. But I guess I was wrong, because if we _were_ friends you wouldn't be here hurting me just because you didn't exactly approve of my choice. You'd help me anyway. So you can just get out. Now."

I was very impressed at her response and I hope Donnic was able to hear all of it. It sounded like she was truly head over heels for this guy and even if she didn't think it was, I was being a bitch for her. I wouldn't be able to convince her to just gossip about him with me; she wasn't that type of gal. But if someone she cared for was being mocked, well, there's no greater defense than a woman-shaped battering ram named Aveline.

Donnic and Fenris were just outside the door, sitting on a bench nearby. The look on Donnic's face told me he heard it all perfectly clear and wasn't sure if I was actually a whore unworthy of his approval, or someone trying to help him. I settled his indecision with a wink, motioning at the door, and said "What are you waiting for?" He shuffled in right quick then, slamming the door in my face. I took his seat by Fenris, smiling proudly.

"And that, dear Fenris, is a job well done."

"Clearly. Hopefully all of your efforts are not put to waste as soon as she realizes she has to talk with him about her... feelings." I rolled my eyes and agreed, but I heard a giggle coming from her office. A _giggle_. Aveline most assuredly did not giggle under normal circumstances, so things must have been going positively swell. I took it as our cue to leave, though Fenris looked surprised.

"You do not want to spy on them?" He asked as we walked down the steps of the Keep.

"No. In her eyes, she has nothing to really be embarrassed about, so teasing her over it wouldn't really work. Besides, I've had enough of a hand in this relationship anyway. The less I hear now the better."

"True." We walked in companionable silence for a bit, but I stopped us at the estates, raising a brow in a silent question. A moment's hesitation was all it took for him to nod and I grinned, taking him by the hand and dragging him to his mansion with me, where we'd have the best shot at privacy. I threw myself at him as soon as the door shut behind us and we ended up on the floor with me on top of him. I giggled before kissing his neck, but before we could get any further, a voice just _had_ to interrupt us.

"Well, I was certainly losing hope at ever seeing that happen. How about you, Varric?"

"I don't know, Hawke. Broody always had it in him." If looks could kill, Garrett would be dead and Varric would be hanging just by a thread. I mean, _really_? Can't a gal get some privacy in her possible lover's ruined home? Was it too much to ask?

"Gary, if I have the decency to merely spy on you and Isabela yesterday as you raced up the stairs, I would have hoped you would have extended the same courtesy to me. Now, though, your death is imminent. Start running, fucker." I growled, causing Garrett to hold his hands up in surrender and step back as I started stalking towards him.

"I imagine she said run for a reason, Hawke."

With that, he turned and ran away, but it was too late. I was already hot on his heels, throwing lightning bolts at him as much as I could without killing him. "You asshole!" I shouted, switching to ice and having him slip and slide all over the floor. It made me feel better to watch him flail for balance and ultimately fail, ending up on his butt and crashing against the wall.

"Beg for mercy." I demanded, coming over to him with my hands aflame. Oh, I could do so many things without killing him and he had no idea.

"Please! I'm sorry, Kay, I am! I had no idea you two were coming over here to do... that. Varric and I were merely waiting around for Fenris to come back so we could invite him to poker night. You're invited too, of course, because I love you and I need help in cheating. Please?" I glared at him for a bit longer before sighing and melting the ice around him, shaking the spell off my hands before helping him up.

"Though it'll haunt me for years to come, your face is utterly fantastic when furious."

"Keep that up, Gary, and it won't be long before you see it again."


End file.
